‘It’s an awesome park’: The newest York County sports complex will open on Halloween.
Two new York County parks are set to reshape the recreation landscape. And one, at least, will have candy.
The long-awaited Field Day Park in Lake Wylie is set to open this month. Lake Wylie Athletic Association and other residents put years of planning into a new sports park ahead of a fall 2016 vote where Lake Wylie residents agreed to set up a new tax district. York County in turn put up hospitality tax money to make the more than $9 million park happen.
Now the 32-acre county athletic park in the Paddlers Cove subdivision has a Halloween opening planned.
“We are having the grand opening, finally, of Field Day Park in Lake Wylie,” York County Councilwoman Allison Love said Monday night.
Love updated her council briefly on planned activities, which include a grand opening ceremony at 9 a.m. Oct. 31 and a Halloween event for children from 1 to 3 p.m.
“We figured we’d kick something off for the kids early on,” Love said.
York County will run the park. It will have three baseball/softball fields, three multipurpose fields, a playground, shelters, pickleball courts, walking trails and a community building. Love said the Halloween event will be a celebration of the park, but also the years of effort it took by area residents to get it.
“It’s an awesome park,” Love said. “We’re very proud of it.”
Also on Monday night, Tega Cay City Council talked of a similar project in another part of the county. Like Field Day Park in Lake Wylie, the Catawba Park project in Tega Cay has been many years in the making. The city is in final construction planning now for the first phase.
Catawba Park is planned at New Gray Rock Road, across from its intersection with Gardendale Road. The 62-acre site will mix active (baseball and multipurpose fields) with passive (trails along the Catawba River) recreation. A dog park, amphitheater, great lawn for community gathering and boat launch just below Lake Wylie dam have all been mentioned with the project.
On Monday night, Tega Cay City Council heard an update on the first phase which would include baseball/softball fields and a playground area.
“Council mainly focused on what would be included in phase one of the construction and directed staff to bring back various funding options in the coming months for them to consider and give direction,” said City Manager Charlie Funderburk.
An estimate project timeline shows construction to start at Catawba Park in June of 2021.
Field Day and Catawba parks are part of an area trend toward recreation. York County has Riverbend Park in plans, a riverfront natural area of about 2,000 acres. Rock Hill has Miracle Park ongoing, while Fort Mill has Banks Athletic Park set to add baseball fields. Several other large projects came to York County municipalities in recent years.
