News

PARK GLANCE: Mills River Town Park

By Bill Moss, Published: January 5, 2013

Mills River Town Park

Started in 2010, phase 1 opened in June 2012.
Size: 50 acres (includes town hall and library) between N.C. 191 and the Mills River.
Cost: Phase 1 (walking trail, playground, restrooms, picnic shelter, tennis courts): $1,015,000 (not counting $75,000 donation to build four tennis courts); phase 2: (outer loop 2-mile walking trail, ballfields), $1 million. Flavor 1st, the Mills River farming and packing company, has donated $100,000 for ball fields to be matched by locally raised money.
Quote: "What a park represents for our community is a place where everybody can come together, in a light-hearted setting," says Town Manager Jaime Laughter. "We see a lot of our folks out here exercising and improving their health, and that adds to their quality of life.... Of all the times in your adult life where you don't have fun — going to the bank, sometimes going to work isn't fun — you can go to a park and have fun no matter if you're 2 or 80."