A 62-acre game changer is open in Tega Cay. Here’s how to check out Catawba Park

It’s been more than 15 years in the making, but now Catawba Park is ready for generations to come.

The 62-acre park in Tega Cay with brand new baseball and softball fields, soccer fields, playground and outdoor gathering space has its ribbon cutting Thursday morning. In recent weeks the city began rec league play there. Mayor Chris Gray said Monday night when Tega Cay City Council met that the city has always wanted a park the size of Catawba Park, and Thursday morning would be a joyous occasion.

“Just getting feedback from everyone, everyone is enjoying playing out there and it is a fantastic facility that we all should be proud of,” Gray said.

For anyone who can’t make the grand opening on Thursday, and even larger event looms.

“Catawba Fest, formerly our Fall Festival, will be our first big-scale event at Catawba Park,” said city manager Charlie Funderburk.

The Oct. 29 event will run 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The city expects a crowd. A typical fall festival might have 75 vendors. This year there are about twice that many. The city has overflow parking plans at the Gold Hill Middle School lot.

“We’ll have shuttles running throughout the entire event,” Funderburk said.

City officials say the impact at Catawba Park is vast, for families throughout the area.

“This gives us much more space to be able to get them on baseball fields, softball fields, and then soccer as well,” said Dustin Overton, city parks and recreation director. “It’s a game changer for the city.”

Youth rec, travel sports

This fall, Tega Cay has more than 2,000 participants in its youth sports program. That number has grown steadily in recent years. The city has more than twice as many people as it did two decades ago, the last time a large active sports park opened.

“We haven’t had new facilities since Turner Field was built,” Overton said. “This creates a massive opportunity for our recreation program just to have more field space, to allow us to expand to more teams, and then also have community events.”

The new space also allows for new sports trends that may come. Several years back, for instance, Tega Cay dropped tackle football and saw flag football surge. Catawba Park has space for whatever may come next.

“This facility really gives us a chance to really expand on the things that we do, and make them better than they were before,” Overton said.

Tega Cay families who use Catawba Park fields for recreation, or travel programs that schedule weekend play there starting in the spring, should have more dependable scheduling at Catawba Park compared to other venues. The soccer or multipurpose fields are entirely artificial turf. The baseball or softball fields have artificial infields.

Grass maintenance and time treating, dragging and lining fields after rain aren’t nearly the concern they would be on all natural fields.

“It’s a massive difference,” Overton said. “With this turf it’s supposed to drain within 10, 20 minutes of rain. And you can literally brush off any standing water, and you can play again.”

Community events

In Tega Cay, there’s often a pull between the historic peninsula area where the city started and the expanded area along Stonecrest Boulevard, Hubert Graham Way, toward Windhaven or other areas where it’s grown since. Catawba Park is big enough, and central enough, to serve all of the city.

“It’s a balance, because we do have our older parks in historic Tega Cay,” Overton said. “Runde and Turner Field, which we still plan to use whether it’s our concerts or recreation program, events, things like that. But this gives us just another opportunity to expand, to encompass a little bit of everything.”

As its name suggests, Catawba Park has connection to the Catawba River. An aerial view of the park show the river just below the dam, just south of Lake Wylie. Passive recreation areas — non-sports — will come closer to the water.

“That’s a future phase,” Overton said. “That will be in addition to where our river access is. The plans are to expand that with some more trails, some more passive recreation, picnic shelters, things like that.”

Want to go?

The ribbon cutting at Catawba Park is at 9 a.m. Thursday, at 2351 New Gray Rock Road in Tega Cay. Catawba Fest will be held there 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Oct. 29. For more information, visit tegacaysc.org.