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New Braunfels dedicated a new city park on Wednesday.
Parks and Recreation’s Executive Director Ken Wilson said Willard Canyon is near downtown, at Beverly Lane, just off North Walnut and Wood Road.
“It's a Hill Country landscape. ...10 acres within the city limits of New Braunfels, just up the road from City Hall,” he explained.
He noted that unlike some parks that have ball diamonds, this one is left rustic with mainly just hiking trails throughout it.
“One mile of trails with a main spine, and then a chute that goes off to the hillside, where you can walk to limestone rock,” he said. “And then also there's a cactus trail that you can walk through.”
Wilson said they’ve named it Willard Canyon, and for good reason.
“Dr. Willard and his wife, Colleen, gifted the 10-acre property to the city of New Braunfels and the Park Foundation pitched in some money, along with some city of New Braunfels park development funds, to put the property into becoming a trail property for the city of New Braunfels Parks and Rec,” Willard said.
The park is in its early days, and he said that while the park is open, they’re not totally finished with it.
“We are still going to work on a little more signage, maybe some interpretive stuff for and mileage type markers that will go along there,” Willard said.
He said the city of New Braunfels distributed a survey asking residents what kind of things they want in parks, three out of four people expressed significant need of additional trails within the City of New Braunfels
Willard Canyon is open from 6 a.m. to midnight.
