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 TODD WETHERINGTON | DAILY HERALD Bryant Brooks, senior manager for external affairs with Dominion Power, discusses the company's role in creating the new lake park in Roanoke Rapids during a dedication ceremony Thursday. |
Thursday, state and local officials gathered at the Roanoke Rapids Lake Day Use Area to dedicate the new park, located at 145 Oakwood Avenue. Dominion also announced a smaller day use facility has been opened at Lake Gaston at the Gaston Dam and will operate on the same hours as the Roanoke Rapids Lake facility.
Prior to the ceremony, Lloyd Andrews, a former city mayor and former manager of both dams, surveyed the new park.
“I think it's wonderful,” he said. “I always thought the day would come for bringing a recreational area here. It's a real asset to the city and the area. People are getting a facility they wouldn't normally have around here.”
Lori Medlin, executive director of the Halifax Convention and Visitors Bureau, said, “This is a great day.”
Medlin explained the process for the 12-acre park started in 1996 when Dominion began going through its relicensing process. The park, she said, answers the question of where families can go to swim in the lake. “What you see today is Dominion's effort to bring access to the lake.”
The $1.3-million park enables the city to link the new facility to the Roanoke Canal Trail. “Today is a day to celebrate,” she said. “Just around the corner is a sandy swimming beach.”
“It ends today,” city Parks and Recreation Director Chris Wicker said of the question of access to Roanoke Rapids Lake. “Picture the countless number of people taking their fitness walk around the trail and having their spirits lifted and let the stressors of the day drop off.”
The lake, Wicker said, is part of Dominion's heritage and because the park connects with the Canal Trail, it takes visitors to the Canal Museum and gives them views of the bulkhead and aqueduct.
There were more than a dozen meetings on the project and even 27.5 inches of rain during construction did not delay the park's opening.
Wicker said the state Parks and Recreation Trust Fund contributed $250,000 to the project and the state Recreation Trails Program contributed $50,000.
While Dominion's main purpose is to generate energy, the park generates synergy through cooperative efforts like the one that made the park a reality, said Bryant Brooks, the company's senior manager for external affairs.
“Dominion could have done this project in a lot of other places,” he said. “The Roanoke Rapids and Halifax County areas are second to no one.
These folks have come together. This park has an intrinsic value more than the worth of maintaining it. It's got our name on it. It's got your name on it.”
Included among the 1 1/2 miles of trail, swimming area, beach volleyball, horseshoes and other amenities, Brooks said, is a nine-hold disc golf course. “You can slice and still feel good.”
Anyone who wants to reserve the picnic area may call 410-6318 to do so, Brooks said.
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