New Cedar Rapids Park Goes Beyond A Typical Play Space [PHOTOS]

The namesake of a new park soon to open in Cedar Rapids intended for it to be much more than just your ordinary play space.

A media release sent to this station by the Cedar Rapids Parks & Recreation Department says that Hughes Park opened on Friday, September 9, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony held at 10 a.m.

Located at 2100 Wilson Avenue Southwest, the park historically preserves an outdoor environmental space previously owned by the Hughes family.  Among its many unique features are nature-themed play equipment, including log balance beams and stepping pads created by trees lost in the Derecho.

Who are the Hughes family?

According to the Cedar Rapids Parks & Recreation Department website, William John Hughes was an immigrant from Wales who came to the site of the park, which was then located on the outskirts of Cedar Rapids, in rural Linn County in 1908. Hughes started a tree nursery which has expanded into a full-service landscape design and installation family business encompassing 150 acres and transitioning into five generations.

Hughes Park’s seven acres were preserved when the last family members living on the property died and the land was then purchased by the Cedar Rapids Parks & Recreation Department.

Basic and unique amenities

Hughes Park has typical park amenities including a pavilion, restroom, and open field with a backstop that can be used for baseball, soccer, or other field activities.

It also features 2 basketball courts, ADA-compliant and able to be used for wheelchair basketball. In the winter, this area will transform into an ice rink.

In addition, there is nature-themed play equipment, a naturalized teaching area, and a birding area. Educational signage shows how to identify birds, how birds use trees, and the common birds of Iowa. Additional signage provides the history of the park and information about an amazing horse sculpture.

Visit this amazing horse statue and WIN

The above sculpture was donated as part of the project by Dwight Hughes. Located at the entrance of the park, it represents the draft horses once used in the landscape nursery business that the family established on the site.

According to the media release,  the sculpture includes a Welsh dragon, the national symbol of Wales, the country from where William John Hughes immigrated. The sculpture also includes an oak leaf, representative of the tree of Iowa.

To celebrate the opening of Hughes Park, the Cedar Rapids Parks & Recreation Department is hosting a "scavenger hunt".

Individuals who post a picture of themselves near the horse sculpture and post it on the Department’s Facebook page will be entered into a drawing for a free pavilion reservation at the park within the next year. The reservation has a value of $80.

There will also be further events and activities scheduled at Hughes Park this fall and winter. Funding for the park came from REAP grants, the Hughes family, and the Parks and Recreation Department budget.