MOUNT STERLING, Ky. (LEX 18) — In Mt. Sterling, there are five parks for community members to enjoy.
“There’s nothing like being outside and getting good exercise and in fellowship with your friends,” said Phil Gross, who just took over as director in mid-October.
He tells LEX 18 he has a lofty list of goals he wants to accomplish. One of the most anticipated projects is expanding their pickleball courts.
There are currently four pickleball courts at The Mound, but he plans to add eight courts to Easy Walker Park.
There are also plans to add a 9-hole disc golf course at Easy Walker, in addition to the 18-hole disc golf course at Botts Nature Park. In addition, three new tennis courts will be added to Easy Walker as well.
Easy Walker is their main park, which consists of 60 acres of baseball and softball fields, horseshoes, and miles of walking trails.
In the Montgomery County parks system, there are also stocked fishing ponds, as well as basketball courts and other amenities.
“You think of parks and you think of sports, but it’s not just sports,” said Gross.
One community member named Barry told LEX18 he walks his two dogs, Fritz and Remy, at Easy Walker as often as possible.
“I think you’ll see there’s beautiful grounds here and a lot of facilities,” said Barry,
Gross told LEX18 they conducted research when deciding to do upgrades, and found they had over 320,000 people visit Easy Walker park alone.
“A lot of that is through our travel baseball program, where a lot of teams come from other counties to enjoy, and it’s already filled up for next year, with teams requesting to come back,” said Gross.
They also have several big annual events. In September, they held the Pooch Pool Party at the community pool, and on Halloween, they’ll have BooFest, a free family event at Easy Walker.
Gross said their most popular event is Christmas in the Park, which begins the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
“It’s a free to all kids, and the community can come and enjoy the park with all the lights and tree lighting, and we’ll have Santa come,” said Gross. “It’s nice because you don’t have to travel to Lexington or Louisville and pay money; we just do it for free in our beautiful park.”
To see more details about the parks, visit the Montgomery County Parks Facebook page.
