TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A celebration was held downtown Thursday, July 2 to commemorate the new and improved Armory Park.
Ward 6 Council Member Miranda Schubert and Tucson Parks and Recreation invited the community to join the festivities and enjoy the grand reopening of the park. Speeches and the ribbon cutting took place at 6 p.m.
Performances, food trucks, games and other activities were available throughout the evening.
The park has been closed for just under a year to make improvements and add new amenities.
Lara Hamwey, director of parks and recreation for the City of Tucson, says this was a $1.7 million project funded by Prop 407, a bond voters approved in 2018 for park improvements across the city.
"So the biggest improvement is right behind me, a new performing arts location, a cover, and then brand new irrigation, renovated bathrooms, a brand new dog park, which I know a lot of our downtown residents will be excited about. Lighting, trees, some benches. I mean just really improving the quality of life when you come to visit the park," Hamwey said.
Casey Ramirez came out with her family and says Armory Park has always been a special place for her and is happy to see it come back to life.
"My mom was the director of this center all of our childhood and this has been such a vibrant place and such an important part of our childhood. It’s so exciting to see the park blooming again and people here enjoying this space," Ramirez said.
The dog park can’t be used for another two weeks while the sod settles in but pet owners Tony Bricktua and Hal Dick tell me they can’t wait to bring their pup Miss Charlie.
"We just bought a house here, we just closed a few days ago. So we’re very excited to hear the park is open," Bricktua said. "There’s not a lot of dog parks near us where we live now and Charlie loves playing with other dogs so we’re looking forward to taking her out to parks."
He says you don't see a lot of grass in Tucson so that's something Ms. Charlie will enjoy.
"She loves playing on grass. She loves rolling around in grass, so this is her perfect setup," Bricktua added.
Hamwey says the City has an initiative called Help Us Plan Play to make the park more community friendly.
"So we're really looking for partners to do yoga classes, dog training classes, fitness classes in the outdoor space. It's our opinion the more active the residents are within the park itself, that we can pretty much find a balance so that everybody can enjoy it and keep it safe," Hamwey said.
She also says if you want to do an event or do a class at Armory Park, permits will be free for one year.
"So we are using that to incentivize outside groups to help partner with us to activate the park," Hamwey said.
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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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