Location: Across from the Westport Roanoke Community Center
It's time for another park party! Let's enjoy a beautiful evening in the park together, chatting in the south meadow, listening to music, and having some delicious food truck food and ice cream. Or bring your own picnic food, blanket or chairs to enjoy the evening. Rock on!
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Kansas City-based, woman-fronted, full band with their fingers in a number of musical pies. Their catalog of original tunes draws on Jill’s influences that include Texas singer-songwriters such as Robert Earl Keen, as well as 1960s Bakersfield and Memphis blues. In August 2019, the band (as a trio) released an EP entitled “so_low” that will take you on a grass rootsy, acoustic-yet-gutsy trek through four up-tempo foot-stompers, heavy on chutzpah. Playing live, you can expect extra electric guitar added to the bash for even more oomph.
Photographer Jim Robinson takes inspiration from the natural scenes he captures in Roanoke Park. Then he transforms them into images with a density, depth and mystery seen through the heart and soul as well as the eyes. Enjoy this gallery of his Roanoke Park images, then head to his website for more of his work and to purchase limited edition signed prints: theasseen.com.
The yellow tree / original at theasseen.com
Exactly / original at theasseen.com
Good morning / original at theasseen.com
Branching out / original at theasseen.com
Crossing guard / original at theasseen.com
I stand alone. / original at theasseen.com
Here Comes the Sun / original at theasseen.com
Many more Roanoke Park images can be seen at theasseen.com. Jim walks through the park on a daily basis with his eyes always open to new inspiration.
Roanoke Park's volunteer naturalist Chris DeLong has combined data from the 2012 tree inventory with lots of on-the-ground scouting to produce a custom Google Map you can use to explore the park. The trail paths on this map are more accurate and complete than can be found anywhere else. Markers for the park’s largest trees and others have been added to the map with each containing ID and info in a popup. Links to Missouri Botanical Garden pages are included (but are only clickable on desktop browsers).
You can help improve this map by finding the trees and emailing Chris at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with discrepancies. Some of the 2012 champions may have fallen down, or were misidentified initially. While the 2012 Tree Inventory was a snapshot in time, we’ll try to continually update this map with your help.
Click for a video explaining Roanoke Park Trees and TrailsEven in just the process of rolling out this map several corrections and discoveries have been made. The 2012 second place chinkapin oak is now the park champion, after the former champ apparently got hit by lightning. Yikes! (It looks like it is trying to survive, despite dead stripes down two sides.) The old champ is west of Karnes, and the new champ is by the paw paw patch above the brick road, right above the lower trail. Also it looks like we have a kind of Hickory tree we didn't know about. The champion "hickory" in 2012 appears to be a Shellbark Hickory, Carya laciniosa. That species is also called Kingnut, for having the largest of all hickory nuts. We'll try to beat the critters to some to help confirm the identification.
You could also add tree observations to iNaturalist if good ID pictures can be taken, adding to our Roanoke Park Biodiversity Project: inaturalist.org/projects/roanoke-park-biodiversity What are good ID pictures? More than one, clear and hopefully focussing on distinguising characteristics: the "key things" that separate a tree species from close relatives. If you don't know and are learning, take a variety! iNaturalist lets you upload four photos initially, but then you can keep hitting the + icon and adding more. Bark, leaves, flowers, fruit or seeds, twigs, winter buds - all can show useful ID characters.
Trail Maps, in various formats:
Roanoke_Park_Trails.pdf (417 kb).
Roanoke Park Trees and Trails Google Map
"Roanoke Park Tour" on MTBProject.com
To avoid damaging trails, check Trail Status before biking or hiking off road. ("Rozarks" = Roanoke Park's 2.5 miles plus Rosedale's 3.5 miles.)
Contact the Westport-Roanoke Community Center to find out about their facilities or inquire about reserving spaces.