Roanoke Park: One of KCMO Parks’ “Twelve Trails for the Holidays”

CLICK TO WATCH: Roanoke Park 12 Trails for the Holidays

Thanks to Kansas City Missouri Parks & Recreation for featuring Roanoke Park in their Twelve Trail for the Holidays!

KC Parks included Roanoke Park trails in their 2020 series "Twelve Trails for the Holidays." Click our thumbnail image watch the brief video highlighting the wonderful trails in our urban park.

“ #TwelveTrailsForTheHolidays Roanoke Park Trail is an urban 2.5 mile single track dirt trail through the hills of Midtown Kansas City.. ”

Check out the other 11 trails they featured at this link: https://kcparks.org/twelve-trails-for-the-holidays/

Great job Lance and Rachel! And thanks to the trail builders! “The Rozarks” include Roanoke Park’s 2.5 miles and Rosedale Park’s 3.5. Both were designed by Brett Shoffner and are currently maintained by Scott Lillis and other Urban Trail Co. volunteers. 

To avoid damaging trails, remember to check Urban Trail Co's Protect the Trails page before hiking or biking off road. “Rozarks” is almost always open, thanks to our rocky soil and steep slopes.

See you on the TRAILS!

New tennis courts are on the way. Click for more pictures.

Roanoke Park Continues to Benefit from Public Infrastructure Advisory Committee Funds

Since it was founded the Roanoke Park Conservancy has worked with the parks department to seek PIAC funding for improvements throughout the park with great success. These requests have aligned with the 2011 Master Plan, and benefited from the strong support of nearby neighborhoods. The focus of the past few years has been improving the "south meadow," the lobe of the park southwest of the community center. These improvements include: renewing the tennis courts, new sidewalks, additional lighting, and entry pillars and signage.

The south meadow shows the results and more are on the way! Hopeful signs of good days after we make it through together.

Currently funded PIAC improvements will add to the already completed work within Roanoke Park’s south meadow: the 2014 playground replacement, the new sidewalk and lighting along the north side, the winding ADA sidewalk between the tennis courts / playground and the west entrance, and replacing the handrails on the north staircase. In 2018 we requested solving the erosion problems and shortcut paths along the winding sidewalk with durable flagstone paving, and entrance pillars / lighting at the southwest entrance. Those projects are winding their way through the process and may come to fruition later in 2020.

Most dramatically, this summer and fall you can expect to see the fruits of earlier PIAC requests in the form of NEW TENNIS COURTS. Yes, they will also be striped for PICKLEBALL. The purchase order for the tennis court contractor has been approved and pending any unforeseen delays (which there are a lot of these days) work should proceed in the months ahead!

In 2019, another master plan aligned request was made to continue the momentum: we hope to add amenities to the tennis court / playground area including: a naturalistic water play area as well as adult and family play areas next to the soon to be rehabilitated tennis courts. A future option is a new slide for the playground coming down through the trees next to the north staircase.

Click the images below to view pdf documents of the 2019 request. Unfortunately we have learned that the below request was not approved. We will reformulate it to refine the plans and TRY AGAIN next year.

In memory of Judy Widener, founder of Dance in the Park

Judy Widener memorial tree. Click for a gallery of images.

A native serviceberry memorial tree was planted in the spring of 2018 by the parks department within view of the current location of Dance in the Park. Enjoy the blooms it has in spring and its elegance in all seasons, and give thanks for neighbors who add beauty and life to the park. A multi-trunked serviceberry was chosen for it's delicate features. Can a tree dance?

(2018's drought conditions haven't been kind to this new tree but we believe it will bounce back.)

Here's a memorial page from Bridging the Gap with more information about Judy.