The Syracuse Parks Department is marking 100 years of operation, and WAER News has embarked on a series that will take you to just some of the city’s many green spaces. This week, WAER's Scott Willis takes a short walk from our studios to Thornden Park, where he met up with Miranda Hine. She's founding member and co-president of the Thornden Park Association.
Hine says she instantly connected with the park when she moved to Syracuse in the early 1980’s and bought a house that backed up to Thornden.
"I had a baby daughter, and I would come here and bring her. I just fell in love with the landscape. I thought it was the most beautiful place ever."
She says the association was created out of a strong desire to care for the 76 acre space near Syracuse University.
"The park wasn't very well taken care of at that time. It's in much better shape now than it was in 1983. So we got together and said what can we do about it kind of thing."
Hine says one of their first priorities was restoring the lily pond not far from the rose garden.
"It was really one of my passions at the beginning. I think seeing people come up for graduation..nobody came up here. There was no water in the pond. There was no plants here. It was all just overgrown trees, vines, there was nothing here."
Hine says the city saw they were serious about their efforts to restore the pond after members spent years planting perennials and shrubs on both sides. The project was completed in 1990.
It’s that kind of attention that Hine says has led to an exponential increase in use of the park over the past 30 plus years.
"The more something is taken care of, the more people want to enter it. If something doesn't look taken care of, it's kind of off-putting. The features we've added, now this is one of the main sites for weddings. There were no weddings here before. That was one of our main goals: The more it's used, the more it will be loved."
Hine says they’ve worked hard to build up programming at the park, including earth fest, Chilibowl fest, and the Shakespeare festival which runs for the next two weekends. She hopes the events and ongoing care will continue to dispel a long-held perception that Thornden is unsafe.
"You have to be smart, like going into Central Park, any park; you don't go in at night. There have been things that have happened, but I feel it's really safe in this park. If it's being used by all these people walking around. it's not like this deserted landscape."
Hine says much-needed improvements to the amphitheater and the basketball courts can only boost usage even more.
