Lynchburg’s refurbished Riverfront Park is getting some blue-ribbon recognition from park officials across the state.
The city has earned the Virginia Recreation and Parks Society’s 2010 Best New Facility Award for its makeover of downtown’s Riverfront Park.
Riverfront Park, which plays host to Friday Cheers and other downtown festivities, was revamped last year and given a plaza and stage area, an eye-catching fountain and a series of rain gardens and swales that can filter storm water runoff from an 11-acre area.
When the improvements were unveiled in May 2010, the city hailed the project as a unique crossroads of recreation needs, downtown revitalization, economic development and water quality management.
Parks & Recreation Director Kay Frazier said they were thrilled to see the project receive statewide accolades.
“We’re just really proud that the city is getting this recognition,” she said, adding it’s the first time Lynchburg has been honored by the state parks society since it opened Miller Park Pool in the 1980s.
Lynchburg, which spent $2.6 million on the park upgrades, won the 2010 Best New Facility Award within its population category.
Long-term plans call for further improvements to the park, including building new walkways and restoring the old canal along Jefferson Street. But no immediate work is on the horizon.
Currently, the city is working on its Lower Bluffwalk and Jefferson Street South projects, a downtown revitalization initiative that focuses on the Jefferson Street area and adjacent bluff immediately across from Riverfront Park.
The project, which is now under construction, includes building a sidewalk on the south side of Jefferson Street and constructing a pedestrian path that will connect 11th Street and Jefferson Street. Currently, 11th Street dead-ends just past Commerce Street, leaving no convenient way to get to Jefferson Street and the park below from that point.
The full vision for the Lower Bluffwalk calls for developing a series of outdoor plazas and pocket parks around the buildings in that area, which will make the vicinity more pedestrian friendly and, officials hope, more redevelopment friendly.
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