Great Falls is home to 57 parks, the most of any city in Montana, providing recreational spaces for all residents whether they're playing sports or enjoying nature.
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The extensive park system requires significant maintenance efforts from city crews who work daily to keep these spaces pristine during National Parks and Recreation Month.
"Between the mowing, the irrigation, doing maintenance on the amenities, the play structures, cleaning up vandalism, picking up trash daily. We have a lot," said James Rentfro, park foreman for Great Falls.
The abundance of parks in Great Falls traces back to the city's founding vision.
"It was something that the city founder Paris Gibson wanted. He wanted a lot of wide open green spaces for people to utilize and we're able to provide that," Rentfro said.
The parks department has plans to enhance several recreational areas in the near future.
"We're looking for upgrades in a lot of our park systems. We got some things like I mentioned at Morony Park, there is going to be some improvements to Wadsworth Pond area that we're excited about," said Kevin Vining, park supervisor for Great Falls.
One ongoing challenge for the parks department is dealing with unexpected costs from vandalism.
"Vandalism is one that you don't actually put in the budget. The paint, the repairs, the wood repairs, signs that get damaged, all those things, those are things that don't actually go into the budget we have to make up with," Vining said.
Despite the challenges, park officials find satisfaction in seeing residents enjoy these public spaces.
"When we see a lot of people out in the park in the evenings, in the daytime enjoying that. That's really rewarding. We know we're doing what we need to do and providing spaces for folks to just go out at no cost," Vining said.
Click here for a list of all Great Falls parks.
The city website noted: "The City's Park and Recreation Department manages more than 75 properties, including 1,200 acres of developed land in parcels ranging from small mini-parks to large urban parks. The inventory of sites also includes about 310 acres of undeveloped parks like Wadsworth Park. Other facilities include the Community Recreation Center, Westside Community Center, Electric City Water Park, Jaycee, and Water Tower Swimming Pools, and Multi-Sports Softball Complex. Finally, the Department shares the responsibility for maintaining the River's Edge Trail."
