Gretna Crossing Park has earned rave reviews – and not just from local residents.
In March, city officials were presented a Great Places in Nebraska award during the Nebraska Planning Conference in Kearney, according to a press release from the City of Gretna.
The state award recognizes and celebrates great urban and rural places of exemplary character, quality and planning while meeting criteria of originality, innovation, meaningful engagement, implementation and effectiveness, the press release stated.
The City of Gretna opened GXP, sponsored by United Republic Bank, in September 2023. The park is a community showpiece, with outdoor entertainment, recreation and sports facilities offering activities for everyone.
The 157- acre park includes an outdoor water park, amphitheater, picnic shelters, ball fields, playgrounds, green spaces, fishing pond, 18-hole disc golf course, outdoor classroom and dog parks (although, as of April 11, the small dog park was closed for fertilizing). GXP is also the home of the Gretna Crossing YMCA, which opened at the same time as the park.
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Discussions about creating a new park started several years before ground was broken, Mayor Mike Evans said. City officials met with a few area architects, as well as members of the community.
“There were concepts before I took office,” he said. “There was a park (committee), and I’m sure the administration all had some visions to share.”
The city had attempted to pass a referendum on raising a local tax to help fund the park a few years earlier without success; but in May 2020, voters approved a sales tax increase of .5% to generate revenue for it, Evans said. That fall, they followed up by approving a bond issue for the pool at the YMCA. Gretna Public Schools uses the Y pool for swim meets, and it is open to the community when no events are scheduled.
Since the park opened in the fall, the outdoor water park still hasn’t been used, Evans said. It is scheduled to open on Memorial Day – May 27. He is confident the community – especially its younger members – will appreciate this feature.
“Our city pool is really little and really old,” he said. “This will be a lot better pool.”
The ball parks, too, are going to be really busy, along with its other features, Evans said.
“I’ve seen a lot of people playing disc golf,” he said.
The amphitheater might not be busy at first, but it will be a valuable venue for live performances, community functions and other events. Evans hopes school groups, scouts and others will take advantage of it.
“It’s for the community to use,” he said. “We hope that people will just embrace this and make it what they want it to be.
Ground was broken for the park project in fall 2021. There were delays along the way because of supply chain issues, and inflation pushed the cost of the project up, he said.
“We had to look and say, ‘how can we do this and stay within budget?’” Evans said. “The people that worked on the park just really cared about doing it right.
“This was really something that was for the whole community,” he said. “It just makes it a place for the whole community to come together.”
It’s exciting that the park will now be open for its first full year, Evans said.
“I think for generations this will be a real special place for a lot of people,” he said.
With Gretna’s progression from a small, rural town to a diverse, rapidly growing community, city leaders knew that big steps were needed, the press release stated. Without that, the community would lose an opportunity to carve out a place for multiple generations to engage.
“Gretna Crossing Park captures not only the values and what is important to our residents, it reflects our heritage through wayfinding, preserves its natural landscape and creates a space where community happens,” Evans said.
To learn more about GXP and all it offers, visit gretnacrossingpark.com/.