Green Investment is an occasional series about the positive impact of Ottawa County parks on the quality of life in West Michigan, presented by the Ottawa County Parks Foundation.
Ottawa Parks serve as big community backyards
Even with several acres of property at home, Brenda Easterling and her children can’t do everything in their own backyard.
Like swim a lake. Hike a dune. Kayak a river. Fish a pond. Slide down a hill. Explore a marsh.
So, the Easterling family explored a bigger backyard last summer — the Ottawa County Parks system — to do those things and more while visiting Ottawa’s 38 parks and open spaces.
“They’re just great places to get outside and experience nature,” said Easterling. “And you can find a park with things to do for everyone, from little tiny ones all the way up to great-grandparents.
“And other than the beach parks during the summer, they’re all free. That’s just a huge bonus. That’s why we started, to hit all the free things.”
With nearly 7,000 acres of land, the Ottawa County Park system does indeed serve as a community backyard. It reflects a community investment in spaces where people can gather, have a good time, and enjoy the outdoors, particularly if their own home or neighborhood is lacking in green space.
Most park facilities don’t require admission or reservations, so exact numbers of users are hard to come by. But demand for facilities that are reserved – 1,400 reservations a year – shows Ottawa residents enjoy a great return on that investment in parks.
Many dates for premium facilities are reserved a year in advance, said Elaine Ebeling, guest services supervisor for Ottawa Parks. The Weaver House at Pine Bend, Grand Ravine Lodge, the Connor Bayou Woodland Lodge and the Nature Education Center at Hemlock Crossing are favorite spots for weddings, graduation parties, family reunions, bridal showers, club meetings and business retreats. Those premium facilities rent for $80 to $400, well below the cost of most commercial event venues, Ebeling noted.
And then there are dozens of other park amenities like tables, grills and many pavilions, that are free to use, as are trails, docks, water access and so much more. People treasure their favorite parks, some coming back year after year for reunions, family picnics and even Thanksgiving celebrations, Ebeling said.
“It really is an extension of their backyard,” she said. “People say, ‘I can’t have it at my house, but this is right down the street. I hike there all the time. This is my park.’”
For families like the Easterlings, the range of free facilities and activities is a great resource.
“I just wanted to do some activity with my kids that didn’t cost money,” said Brenda, a single mother of three adopted, adult children who each have special needs. “And they’ve got lots of different activities.”
So, she loaded up Louis, 30; Sarah, 22, and Nikota, 21, for expeditions to 38 different places. Friends and relatives young and old often joined them.
They did geocaching, hiking, biking, walking, horse riding, kayaking, skiing, sledding, swimming, and fishing. At some parks, like Paw Paw, Grose, and Hawthorne Pond, their grandmother in an electric wheelchair was able to join in, on barrier-free trails and fishing.
The family tour featured some old favorites, like Pigeon Creek Park not too far from their home, as well as new discoveries, like Deer Creek Park near Coopersville.
“It was a lot of fun going to places we’d never been, learning what they had to offer,” Brenda said.
The Native American child’s grave site at Kirk Park was especially interesting to her children, who are part Native American.
Other than wishing for some pit toilets at some of the open spaces, Brenda had no complaints. And there’s plenty of room for more people at most of the parks, she reported.
“A lot of times in the summer, we’d go to parks and we’d be the only ones, or one of a few people there,” she said.
Brenda said the variety of spaces is amazing, from marshes to Lake Michigan, forests to sand dunes. Seeing them all is a challenge she hopes other families will take on.
“Just get out and explore nature and let the kids wander,” she said. “Get out and do stuff.”
This article was published in the Holland Sentinel on August 19, 2018.
