Frohring Meadows, The West Woods and Big Creek marked the top three most popular parks in Geauga County last year, said GPD Executive Director John Oros.
Frohring Meadows, The West Woods and Big Creek marked the top three most popular parks in Geauga County last year, said GPD Executive Director John Oros.
Frohring Meadows, in Bainbridge, drew 50,315 cars, The West Woods in Russell Township had 32,315 cards and Big Creek in Chardon had 31,635, Oros said during the Jan. 21 GPD Board of Commissioners meeting.
Park district staff counted the cars at all of their parks over the course of 200 days to gather the data, he said.
The fourth, fifth and sixth most popular parks were Beartown Lakes Reservation, which straddles Bainbridge and Auburn townships, with 31,497 cards; Orchard Hills in Chester Township, with 29,804 cars; and Headwaters in Huntsburg, with 27,139 cars, Oros said.
The total number of cars for all of GPD’s parks in 2024 was 420,925, he said.
“I took a look back to 2018 … and those same six parks were in the top six,” Oros said, adding over the past seven years, GPD has counted 3,075,328 total cars that visited the parks.
“People are using our parks and we’re grateful they’re using our parks,” Oros said.
During the meeting, park commissioners approved renovations for the Beartown Lakes Reservation playground through an Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant, which will provide $344,075.
Deputy Director Matt McCue also announced updates on projects they’ve been working on, adding the Veterans Legacy Woods Cuyahoga River reforestation is the only current project.
“That’s the design build one that’s underway right now, that’s in the kind of design phase and they should be doing plantings out there in spring,” McCue said.
Oros said 875 people attended the annual Winter Solstice celebration.
“On Saturday, Dec. 21, The West Woods welcomed 875 guests celebrating the longest night of the year during our annual winter solstice celebration, (which was) first held in 1989. This year’s event attracted the largest attendance in its 35-year history,” he said.
The next GPD board meeting is 8:30 a.m. March 17 at Big Creek Park’s Meyer Center.
