Blue Springs parks offer great diversity, with a variety of recreational opportunities for all ages. Located throughout the city, tucked into quiet neighborhoods as well as larger, sports-oriented parks, they are truly one of the treasures of Blue Springs.
Frequent exercise is beneficial for our health and mental wellbeing, and walking is a great choice. The Blue Springs parks system includes many walking trails. One of the newest is located at Gregory O Grounds Park at the northeast corner of the Adams Dairy Parkway and the I-70 interchange. This new paved walking trail is ten feet wide and encircles Lake Remembrance, and is a beautiful tree-lined trail, with excellent views of the lake. As you walk along the Eastern side, you pass one of the other popular features of this park, the Blue Springs Off-Leash Dog Park.
The dog park is resulted from the efforts of a small group of citizens who attended a leadership seminar hosted by StandUp Blue Springs in 2005. This group formed an organization called RUFF (Responsible Unleased Fun for Fido, www.ruffbluesprings.org) which developed a relationship with the Blue Springs Parks department and set about the task of raising private funds to share in the cost of the development of the dog park. The city of Blue Springs provided the land, the parking lot and the clearing of the woods and brush, with support from RUFF for amenities such as water fountains, park benches, upgrades to the fencing, the dog wash area and the new small dog area recently added.
With the addition of the small dog area, the park now has two separate unleashed areas, one for average to large dogs and one for dogs that weigh less then 25lbs. This allows for better safety for the smaller dogs, and both areas include water fountains and park benches. You can access the larger park from the walking trail or from the parking lot on 20th street.
For the 5th year, RUFF will hold its main fundraiser, Pooches on the Parkway, at Wilbur Young Park near Blue Springs South High School on Sunday May 16th from 11am to 4pm. Funds raised at this event will be used to improve the pond attached to the park, providing better access and water quality for the dogs that enjoy swimming and exploring. A complete schedule of events and activities is available on the RUFF website. Please bring your 4-legged companions for a walk on the parkway to raise funds to improve this special asset in our city.
Wilbur Young Park also offers one of our newest park features in Blue Springs, a disc golf course. This 18 hole disc golf course will open later this month and will host its first tournament on May 23, 2010. You can find more information about the course and the tournament at http://bit.ly/bsdiscgolf. You can find information about all of the parks Blue Springs has to offer on the city website at http://bit.ly/bsparks.