All of Pack Square park is now open to the public

Posted on by Jeff Fobes

Ben Teague, of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, took this picture from the top of the Biltmore Building today.

Here’s the latest on the park, from Pack Square Conservancy:

The hardscape area in Reuter Terrace opened March 17, and all the fences have been removed. Park visitors can now navigate the full length of the park on foot. The sidewalk on the north side of Reuter Terrace provides handicap access between Roger McGuire Green and Pack Square. There are lots of places to sit in Reuter Terrace, and it will be just a few weeks before the new fountain in that area is turned on. Take special notice of the sculptural railing on the observation point that was designed and built by Black Mountain artist Julia Burr.

The sod in Reuter Terrace was installed during the past month and will be off limits until it has a chance to become established. The crew is also installing sod on the south side of Roger McGuire Green in front of the new tavern that will open next month. That area has remained under construction until recently.

After being off limits for about six months, the large lawn in the central and northern portions of Roger McGuire Green is open and visitors are welcome.  The grass will become greener over the next few weeks and will be in prime shape for the numerous events that are scheduled for the months ahead.

The Conservancy plans to install a visitors’ kiosk in Reuter Terrace sometime this summer. Watch for information about the kiosk and upcoming events in the park.

 

 

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About Jeff Fobes
As a long-time proponent of media for social change, my early activities included coordinating the creation of a small community FM radio station to serve a poor section of St. Louis, Mo. In the 1980s I served as the editor of the "futurist" newsletter of the U.S. Association for the Club of Rome, a professional/academic group with a global focus and a mandate to act locally. During that time, I was impressed by a journalism experiment in Mississippi, in which a newspaper reporter spent a year in a small town covering how global activities impacted local events (e.g., literacy programs in Asia drove up the price of pulpwood; soybean demand in China impacted local soybean prices). Taking a cue from the Mississippi journalism experiment, I offered to help the local Green Party in western North Carolina start its own newspaper, which published under the name Green Line. Eventually the local party turned Green Line over to me, giving Asheville-area readers an independent, locally focused news source that was driven by global concerns. Over the years the monthly grew, until it morphed into the weekly Mountain Xpress in 1994. I've been its publisher since the beginning. Mountain Xpress' mission is to promote grassroots democracy (of any political persuasion) by serving the area's most active, thoughtful readers. Consider Xpress as an experiment to see if such a media operation can promote a healthy, democratic and wise community. In addition to print, today's rapidly evolving Web technosphere offers a grand opportunity to see how an interactive global information network impacts a local community when the network includes a locally focused media outlet whose aim is promote thoughtful citizen activism. Follow me @fobes
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5 thoughts on “All of Pack Square park is now open to the public”

  1. pawpawgator

    Wow, what a thrill…after the 5 1/2 years to build only a 4 acre park…laughable!

  2. jctripp

    Nice patch of grass, too bad the “anti-growth” element of Asheville made the property surrounding it “hands off”. The whole point of a city park is to provide city residents a place of respite and to encourage pedestrian culture. But the hippies in SUVs would rather pretend they know best. They want their “open space” and would rather the development be less than 10 stories. Whatever. I live downtown, I’ll be laying my towel down, practicing Tai Kwondo and enjoying the downtown green. Too bad most people have to drive here to be a part of it. This park should be framed by residential buildings, I hope that some developer comes in here and does it right, hippies in SUVs be damned.

  3. ashevillelokel

    “the sod is off limits…” so the Park really isn’t “open to the public” … is it.

  4. hauntedheadnc

    [i]Nice patch of grass, too bad the “anti-growth” element of Asheville made the property surrounding it “hands off”.[/i]

    Personally, I enjoy it most when the NIMBY-American community pipes up with their comments about “all the concrete.” (I’m looking at you Mr. Junior) This, despite the fact that the space before the revamp consisted of two large grassy doormats and a slew of parking spaces and this despite the fact that the new park actually features more trees and open space than the old arrangement.

    Yes, the park took far too long to complete and yes it cost far too much. I’ll happily concede that, but I’ll also say that I’m very happy with the way things have worked out. We have a cohesive town square. It’s a gem of a park.

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