The story below is from our March/April 2022 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Whether it’s blueways and greenways, ball games, ropes courses, bike races, Iron Man competition, or a big musical festival, the Valley’s Parks and Recreation Departments are smack in the middle of it all.
There was a time not so long ago when the mention of parks and recreation meant youth sports or maybe a men’s fastpitch softball tournament, once an enormously popular sport in the Roanoke Valley. Parks and rec was about ball games, mowing, planting a few trees and looking after things.
Oh, has that ever changed! Parks and rec these days might refer to a festival (Chili, Olde Salem Days, Dogwood, Outdoors, Local Colors, Art in the Park, Strawberry), a Christmas celebration (Explore Park’s light show), a ropes course, tree planting, jazz outside, kayak launches, bicycle stunt exhibitions, marathons, Iron Man competition, camping, fishing, hiking the myriad trails crisscrossing the Roanoke Valley, and … well … you can get out of breath just reciting them.
They’ve become so pervasive that economic developers are using the wide range of offerings to attract young (and older) high-income professionals to this active valley with a plethora of offerings for that vigorous lifestyle.
Michael Clark, who runs the Roanoke City Parks and Recreation Department, points out that “the history of cooperation among localities is one of competition and envy.” But that is no longer the case. “We see that what is good for Salem is good for us all, for example. We look through a regional lens.”
Fact is, insists Clark, “The average person doesn’t care who’s offering what, so long as it is good. The branding by the Roanoke Regional Partnership has been a benefit to all of us. Without a shift in the narrative, we wouldn’t see GO Fest or the success of the Explore Park.”
Admittedly, the COVID-19 pandemic “has wrecked some things,” says Clark, but much of what is offered has been stable and steady. When people haven’t been able to gather inside in groups, they have wandered the parks and taken part in various activities the parks and rec department has organized.
These offerings “have been shown to be more than leisure activity. They are economic development.”
The parks and rec departments have had two massive economic hits in less than 15 years if you count the pandemic and the economic crash of 2007, which cost Roanoke 25% of its budget at a time when a $30 million development package had just been passed. Twenty-two employees were also left looking for other work.
“We’ve clawed our way back,” says Clark. “We are at about the same level of funding as we were before, but we are still a few positions shy” of a full department. Tree planting (which has earned Roanoke a national reputation) is costing $60,000 a year and resulting in 200 new trees a year.
The plan has been to “focus on fewer A+ projects and not a lot of C+ work,” says Shaner. “The greenway is the prevailing recreational amenity, and the pandemic confirmed our commitment. We’ve been preaching its benefit for years and it only took a pandemic to confirm that.”
Participation numbers are climbing back to pre-COVID numbers, says John Shaner, “but I’m not sure we’ll ever get to the 38,000 GO Fest drew before the pandemic for a single event. It has been hard for the festivals to come back because people are reluctant to get out in crowds.”
Doug Blount of Roanoke County’s rec department sees a “big shift in philosophy toward general recreation. There’s our rec centers, the pools, the water park at Green Hill Center. We’ve shifted to outdoor trails, walking, mountain biking, ropes, kayaking and skills parks. There is more investment in outdoor recreation — thanks to Roanoke Outside and Virginia’s Blue Ridge. It is making the region a premier destination.”
Assistant Director Allen Hayes says, “We have been given the opportunity to evaluate what we offer and what we found is the new desire for families” to take part together. There is more environmental education, aerial adventure, tree-top courses” and “with COVID, there is more desire to go outside.”
Says Blount, “We’ve seen increased visitation at all of our parks. … People are bringing pop-up tents [to parks] and hanging out. They will find a way to recreate.”
Sport specialization is also something of a newer phenomenon, says Hayes. That means young people are picking a single sport and playing it year-round, often with traveling teams.
John Shaner has been with Salem Parks and Recreation for 28 years and he’s seen the dramatic changes unfold across the Roanoke Valley. “The number [of participants] is probably the same today as they were, but there is so much more being offered” by parks and rec. “It is a much wider range.”
A quarter century ago, “we were just starting to offer special events. Youth sports have always been steady and haven’t really dropped off.” That is obvious on any Saturday morning when the parks and gyms are full of young voices. But there has been an evolution. Pickleball is replacing tennis, for example, requiring the modification of unused tennis courts. There is no longer a men’s fast-pitch softball league and that would easily draw a couple of thousand people on weekends in days of old.
Ashley Pelletier, who runs special events for Salem, says, “We do a lot for the holidays with Christmas, concerts, movies in the park, a half-marathon” and the like. She emphasizes that “most of our events are free.”
The department also does a good bit of coordinating for private events with emergency services and the street department. Cooperation among localities, says Shaner, is exemplary. “We see it at levels you don’t expect at other localities,” he says. If we’re having a tournament and need 20 fields, we work with the city, county and Botetourt and everybody benefits from the taxes generated. We bring in an enormous base of funds.”
Salem has often been praised for its facilities and Shaner says those are “first for the residents and second to bring in money.” Even the old professional baseball stadium has been converted into a much-used facility for all kinds of events. The city has multiple parks, stadiums, a civic center and dozens of other attractions, including enormous, scenic Green Hill Park, which is host for everything from swimming in the Roanoke River to the Highland Games, to a hot-air balloon festival to polo.
Shaner emphasizes that “for the whole valley, the product we deliver is phenomenal.”
Pete Eshelman, Director of Outdoor Branding for the Roanoke Regional Partnership, points out that the Partnership’s emphasis on outside activities—and not just sports—has been an overwhelming success that the rec departments have enthusiastically embraced.
“One of the primary reasons it has been successful is because it’s true and authentic,” he says. “You can’t argue that we live in an absolutely beautiful place. But for the longest time we took this beauty for granted. We treated them like wallpaper: nice to look at.
“What we’ve been able to do over the past 10-plus years is open people’s eyes to the fact that our river and trails can be much more than dirt and water when we become intentional with them. When we cultivate and invest in our community strength—the outdoors—they become economic growth tools. The region’s parks and recreation departments have seen the importance their roles in economic development increase; they’re an integral part of people’s and companies’ decisions to locate here.”
Roanoke was out front as “one of the first economic development organizations in the U.S. to develop the outdoors as an economic development sector,” he says. Roanoke has earned an outdoorsy reputation. “When looking at how you grow your community there are only so many things we can change or influence, ensuring that we are a vibrant community where people want to live,” Eshelman says.
Scott Scharnus works for the Salem Parks and Recreation Department and his young family is heavily involved in the offerings. He and stay-at-home mom Jessica (both 35) join children Cameron (8), Hudson (5) and Carson (3) in taking advantage of programs.
“Our family utilizes the Roanoke Valley Greenway for family walks and bike rides, individual workouts, fishing and walking paths,” he says. “We use the tennis courts at the civic center, and attend Red Sox games, live shows and concerts at the civic center a few times a year. We go to special events like the pumpkin patch, Easter egg hunt, downtown trick-or-treating, Christmas parade, fishing rodeo, kids race, Olde Salem Days, youth football, basketball, soccer and baseball. We have a very active family in recreation.”
When Lottie Schottmiller (35) arrived from Connecticut at Roanoke College, she fell in with Camp Roanoke and learned a lot about herself. She was so impressed that she became a counselor and, ultimately, decided to remain in the Roanoke Valley to raise her family.
The HR professional at Delta Dental eventually married lawyer Matt Miller (43) and together they have Chloe (7) and Emmett (5). All are sold on the parks and recreation department offerings for their family in the Roanoke Valley, especially Camp Roanoke, but also quite a bit else.
“I love the outdoors and decided to stay here,” she says. Chloe is now a Camp Roanoke camper and one can see that in Emmett’s future, as well. And that’s not all.
“I love that the parks departments offer something year-round,” says Lottie. “We can all go rock climbing in a gym or watch the Christmas lights at Explore. There are a lot of different camps for children all with different themes. I learned to be a leader at Camp Roanoke. The skills are transferable.”
And if you’re looking for something to do …
The story above is from our March/April 2022. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!