IPRA 2021 Awards of Excellence Winners

accommodation of distinctive park amenities, restored historic elements, and enhanced local connectivity. A dynamic and welcoming reimagined public space, Old City Park has transformed downtown Greenwood and significantly advanced the community’s environmental, social, physical, and economic well-being.

Evansville Parks & Recreation

Becky Barrick-Higgins

Old City Park, Greenwood Parks & Recreation

The re-imagining of Old City Park was a central feature of the City of Greenwood’s downtown development plan to reinvigorate businesses and reconnect residents. Rundell Ernstberger Associates lead a multidisciplinary team to formulate and implement a new vision for Old City Park. The reimagined park boasts a mix of active elements (play space, bocce ball courts, outdoor fitness circuit, multimodal pathways) and passive activities (gathering areas and overlooks, creekside promenade, events lawn) were integrated with ecological and habitat enhancements (stream bank restoration, reforestation, native prairie plantings, daylighted storm drainage pipes), and connectivity and access improvements (extension of local trail network, new sidewalks, paths, and intersection improvements, new parking, new pedestrian bridge). All these elements combine to breathe new vitality into the area. Old City Park has introduced a new landscape typology to Greenwood. In a city that has seen continued rapid expansion and growth, the REA’s habitatforward solution successfully integrates enhanced stormwater management principles, green infrastructure, and native plantings and habitat within a highly developed urban area. The new park has demonstrated to the public that careful stewardship of natural resources can be balanced with the

The City of Evansville’s previous indoor pool was no longer in a state to support the competitive and recreational swimming needs of the community. With the understanding of the extensive, vibrant history of swimming in the community and desire for this to continue, city leaders knew they needed to build a replacement for the outdated, aging aquatic facility. The vision for this new aquatic center was to create an all-inclusive, state-of-theart facility that could provide swimming amenities for everyone — a place for swimmers of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels to enjoy. Thus, the Deaconess Aquatic Center was born. The aquatic center has a stretch 50-meter pool, dedicated to Olympic gold medalist swimmer and Evansville native Lilly King, where diving and swimming can occur simultaneously. A recreational pool serves leisure swimmers, offering lap lanes, stair entry, a zero-depth entry area with play features, a basketball goal and space for classes and lessons. A splash park is located outside. The Deaconess Aquatic Center has been well received and has already been host to numerous events, with more scheduled for the future. It is an environment that increases quality of life for not only the Evansville community, but visitors as well.

In 2019, Brownsburg Parks was awarded a $4.5 million Park District Bond to address a few long-standing capital projects. One of those projects was the renovation of Stephens Park, a 3.2-acre park in the central part of Brownsburg. Acquired from Lincoln Township in 1998, the property consisted of mature trees, open space, a small outdated playground, and a shelter. Unfortunately, this park, in the middle of a neighborhood, was a common place for undesirable activity due to its insufficient lighting. The agency completed the design in 2020 to maximize the park acreage with facilities and amenities that addressed several community priorities within its 5-year Strategic Master Plan while maintaining some of its original characteristics. Construction was completed in the spring of 2021 on the $1.2 million overhaul of Stephens Park. The park still boasts the majority of its open space and mature trees but now has several well-received multi-generational features. The acreage contains six pickleball courts, year-round restrooms, and outdoor fitness equipment. It also displays an updated playground with accessible and inclusive play equipment and surfacing, an accessible paved loop path, and rain gardens that help manage the stormwater on-site.

Bluffton Parks & Recreation

We all know that kids love their power wheels, so our department created an event for them to sharpen their driving skills with an obstacle course! Children ages 3-9 swerved through the cone

Continued on page 33 slalom, under tunnels, over rumble strips, under arches, over ramps, and followed curvy chalk lines at the shaky lanes station. We created a giant sensory car wash and plugged in our famous foam machine to create a massive pile of bubbles to drive through. Our event coordinator created personal driver’s licenses for each child and everyone received a finishers medal. Kids loved this event and couldn’t wait to go through it again and again. Afterward, we invited children over 10 to bike through the course. They also competed in a slow roll challenge to see who could take the longest to cross the finish line without putting their foot down and a ½-mile speed challenge to race around the park trail. Not only did this free event capture the attention of smaller children, but we