Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A walk in Tandy Hills Park

By Steve Smith of The Caravan of Dreams

FORT WORTH — I've spent too much time in meetings, in traffic, in discussions about contentious issues. Most of the work is important, some of it is just work. But I feel it chipping away.

That's why I decided that Saturday was time to recharge the batteries and get a hefty dose of nature.

I've been saying a lot lately that greenspace matters. And it does. On Saturday, I took a ride down the Trinity Trail on my bike, after a stop at Panther City Bikes to get a tube replaced. Bernie and Brian teased me about my general bike maintenance ineptitude. Yeah, I'm pretty clueless.

After the ride, I took the family to the Japanese Gardens for some koi feeding and Pacifi-Tex serenity. Domo arigato.

My wife, my daughter and I rounded out the day with a nature hike in Tandy Hills Park with our tour gides, Don and Debora Young. Don is more than just the unofficial expert on Tandy Hills Park, he's a huge advocate for the environment in Fort Worth. He's the driving force behind FW Can Do -- some of the most vocal opponents to urban drilling in the city. Don's also the man behind PrairieFest -- a celebration of our connection to the natural world.

The Youngs live in an Austin funky house literally across the street from the park. "This is why we bought here," he said, stretching his arms out like he was going to give the park a big hug. "We wanted to be able to look out on this every day." So from their front yard, we left on our evening hike.

Saying that Don is passionate about Tandy Hills Park is like saying Georgia O'Keefe was passionate about Santa Fe. And his enthusiasm is contagious. The 180-acre park between Oakland and Beach Streets south of I30 is one of the last swaths of prairie near downtown and when you are there you can get an idea of what Fort Worth looked like when General Worth first rode into the area a century and half ago.

My evening hike through Tandy Hills was really a transcendent experience. Everything slows down and when it gets quiet, you can hear your soul. The noise of busy urban life falls away. That's part of the value of greenspace. It feeds our souls. Can you put a price on that?

I often ask the question, "What makes a city great?" Certainly the places like Tandy Hills Park are a big part of that. But so are the people like Don and Debora Young. This isn't a new fight for Don. To find out more, check out this Jeff Prince story from 2004. Or better yet, drop by Tandy Hills to see for yourself.

Thanks for tour, Don. It was time well spent.

Pegasus News content partner: The Caravan of Dreams

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• Parks and Trails

Comments

viva_la_malcriada Anonymous

As someone who grew up on FW's East Side, I can't thank Don and Debora enough for their passion and bringing some much-deserved love to this gem of an area - and for making me want to give back, too. Looking at your slide show brings back loads of great memories - all those times I skipped my classes at Nolan to go hang out with the other JD's down in Stratford Park or the hills behind Channel 5, even back then hoping that someday the East Side would see some kind of renewal or renaissance. Sure enough, my little baby went and grew up on me. And once again, it's all thanks to people like Don and Debora, and Lori Thomson, who transformed the old firehouse on Meadowbrook into one of the coolest galleries you'll ever set foot in.

Anybody remember Luminaria's, the swanky Spanish restaurant overlooking I-30 between Beach and Oakland? Good times...

1 year ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )