News

Flavor 1st donates $100,000 to Mills River Town Park

By Bill Moss, Published: June 22, 2012

MILLS RIVER — Mills River town manager Jaime Laughter sketched the history of the new town park, talked about the upcoming phase 2 improvements and then mentioned that, aside from a ceremonial ribbon cutting, the town had news. It sure did.Flavor 1st, the Mills River farming and food company owned by the Johnson family, has committed $100,000 to develop phase 2 of the 50-acre park, including a two-mile walking trail and other improvements.
The news came as Mills River town residents and other guests celebrated the opening of the park, which has been a priority of residents and town leaders since the community incorporated as a town 10 years ago.
"This is a community project," Mayor Roger Snyder said after the donation was announced. "I said from the very beginning that although Mills River is a town we're still a community."
Laughter told several dozen people gathered under the picnic shelter as dark storm clouds loomed to the north that the Town Council had made a park a goal from the beginning. The town purchased the property in 2007, drew a master plan the following year and then constructed the Town Hall and library, playground, rest rooms, half-mile walking trail and dog park with a $500,000 state parks and recreation grant and a low-interest loan.
Thanks to a $75,000 grant from the Wayne Carland family, the town board just authorized a contract for $187,000 to build four tennis courts. Next up are plans to extend the walking trail to two miles and add other improvements.
Mills River is changing, Snyder pointed out. It has added industry in the industrial park and will be home to the $107 million Sierra Nevada brewery on the French Broad River near the Asheville Regional Airport.
"We want to be receptive to the community," he said. "We want to give them their money's worth. Before we built this park we took four different surveys and the number one thing on the list was a dog park. The second thing was the walking trail."
The town council agreed to build both, including separate fenced dog parks for big dogs and little dogs. Dachshunds named Barney and Chipper were chasing balls in the park during the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday. Giving the people what they asked for paid off.
"Even while they were paving this walking trail, there was people using it, walking around the construction," Snyder said.
Part of the town land is leased for farming. "We're waiting for the farmer to get his crop off in the fall," he said. "Probably around November we'll start with the walking trail." The new trail will create a larger loop, giving walkers a choice of walking the original half-mile path of the longer loop.