Kentucky Hidden Wonders
Uncover the best-kept secrets of the Bluegrass State with Kentucky Hidden Wonders, the podcast that takes you beyond the usual tourist attractions and into the heart of Kentucky’s hidden gems. From historic small towns and scenic backroads to underrated attractions and local legends, we shine a light on the unique places and experiences that make Kentucky truly unforgettable.
Each episode explores off-the-beaten-path destinations, secret hiking trails, charming local businesses, fascinating history, and must-visit spots in Shelby County and beyond. Whether you're a Kentucky native, a curious traveler, or someone looking for your next road trip idea, Kentucky Hidden Wonders will inspire you to explore the rich culture, outdoor adventures, and undiscovered beauty of the Bluegrass State.
Join us as we share insider tips, intriguing stories, and travel inspiration to help you experience Kentucky like never before. Subscribe now and start planning your next adventure!
Kentucky Hidden Wonders
Beyond the Greens: Exploring Shelby County Parks
Derrick Griffitts brings a fresh perspective to Shelby County Parks and Recreation, transforming Kentucky's hidden outdoor treasures into accessible adventures for everyone. As a 25-year PGA golf professional who now directs the entire 960-acre park system, Griffiths shares his unique vision for connecting community members with nature's wonders.
The conversation reveals surprising gems scattered throughout Shelby County's three major parks and four mini parks. From the professional-level disc golf course at Red Orchard Park to Lake Shelby's expanding RV camping facilities, these spaces offer more than just recreation—they provide genuine adventures. Griffiths describes personal discoveries made while wading through Clear Creek with his nine-year-old son, including a collectible amber 1910 Coca-Cola bottle and potential Native American artifacts, showing how history lives beneath the surface of these natural spaces.
Technology meets tradition at the golf center, where PGA Tour-level TrackMan simulators engage children with interactive games like Mystic Pond, where players hit animated creatures from virtual water hazards. Meanwhile, the Red Fern Riding Center partnership at Shelby Trails offers guided horseback tours through beautiful woodlands, creating memorable experiences for visitors of all ages.
The parks system truly shines in its community impact, hosting 885 games annually with 2,000 youth participants across multiple sports leagues. Griffiths shares moving stories of seniors finding renewed purpose and improved health through park activities, especially after retirement or illness recovery. "Parks can give people their life back," he explains, highlighting how these green spaces foster essential social connections.
Exciting developments are reshaping the parks experience, including a new website and mobile app for streamlined registration, a revitalized Family Activity Center with arcade games and sensory play elements, and a $150,000 grant-funded transformation of Little Heroes Playground with ADA-compliant recycled rubber surfacing. Plans for a music festival at Red Orchard Park featuring local and bluegrass bands promise to create new community traditions.
What adventures await you in Shelby County Parks? Whether creek exploring, disc golfing, or simply connecting with nature, these hidden Kentucky treasures invite your discovery.
🎙️ Kentucky Hidden Wonders is presented by ShelbyKY Tourism.
🥃 Plan a visit to Your Bourbon Destination® at www.visitshelbyky.com. Located in the heart of central Kentucky and less than an hour from Louisville and Lexington, ShelbyKY is the perfect Kentucky getaway. Complete with two great distilleries, action-packed outdoor adventures, and the best vacation rentals near Louisville, put ShelbyKY at the top of your list when planning a Kentucky Bourbon Trail® trip, romantic couples retreat, or a whole-family vacation.
🎙️ Kentucky Hidden Wonders is hosted by Janette Marson and Mason Warren and edited by Ethan Fisher.
📲 Follow Kentucky Hidden Wonders:
- facebook.com/kentuckyhiddenwonders
- instagram.com/kentuckyhiddenwonders/
- youtube.com/@KentuckyHiddenWonders
© ShelbyKY Tourism, All Rights Reserved.
Welcome to Kentucky Hidden Wonders. I'm Jeanette Marson and I'm Mason Warren. Together, we're uncovering the secrets, stories and hidden gems of Shelby County, Kentucky From unforgettable places to off-the-beaten-path adventures.
Speaker 2:Join us as we explore Kentucky treasures and Shelby County's best-kept secrets. Our guest today is Derek Griffiths, who is the director of parks for the Shelbyville-Shelby County Parks and Recreation. Thanks for being here.
Speaker 3:Glad to be here.
Speaker 2:Welcome, Derek.
Speaker 3:Glad to be here, ready for an exciting podcast. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So let's jump right in with your background, kind of what led you to this point in your career, and have you always worked in parks and recreation, or you know what brought you here?
Speaker 3:You know I'll be honest with you. I've always been in the if you want to say, service industry side of entertainment. If you want.
Speaker 3:But, I've been on the golf side. You know all of my training as a PGA golf professional, which I've been a PGA professional for 25 years in the business since 27. Well, actually now those years get away from me, so 26, 27. And then I've been a PGA member class A professional since 2004. So my background is in the hospitality side of golf and operations and that's just where I've always had a passion for golf and that's what brought me to the Parks and Recreation.
Speaker 3:The Shelbyville-Shelby County Parks and Rec was the first municipal experience I had as a head golf professional and just from there, with my 18 years at the parks as the golf professional superintendent, it's grown now into a larger adventure, into the other part of parks and rec. So now I'm in a new adventure with parks and rec. I'm still working with golf and that's still part of my part of my bag at uh in my position. But now we're into different things. We're into the other side of where I can add value and we can add value to our community from the standpoint of kayaks and playgrounds and uh yoga classes and athletics and and all those things. So, uh, my path's a little different, started, started on the green grass and it is now, went to a little taller green grass.
Speaker 1:Well, I have to say golf is super important to tourism. Here Research shows us. It's like in that top 10 things that people like to do.
Speaker 3:It is a destination activity, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. I was saying that our show name, of course, is Kentucky Hidden Wonders. So tell us a little bit about maybe some hidden gems that your park system has, that our park system has.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, the one thing about our parks department is we are so broad in the various things that we do, the various things that we do. Some of my, some of my favorite adventures really are you know, my son and I will go down around the streams in Clear Creek, whether that's around the lake and we have a. We have a lot of folks that RV camp and and, and you know more tent camping, but we like to get kind of out in the creeks. I know there's kayaks that some folks do and we've got those available for rental and all that. So there's adventures on the water. That's definitely a unique adventure at Parks. Some of our other facilities, such as our Redford Riding Partnership out at Shelby Trails, that is definitely a hidden gem that's getting to be more well-known definitely.
Speaker 3:There's not many that do guided tours, especially in that sort of environment, and they do a phenomenal job out there. Justine and her crew, it's wonderful. That really is a hidden gem. Most folks don't know where Todd's Point is, but if they can make it out there they'll remember it for sure. So aside from that, we've got at our golf facility now.
Speaker 3:We've added an indoor simulator. That's something unique to a lot of facilities. In addition we have a covered driving range, automated ball machines, so we're sort of getting into the self-serve side of golf. It's a nine-hole executive which. There's probably three executive golf courses in our region so we really have sort of that quick round of golf that gives all the elements to beginners, to folks that stay busy and their schedule a little more compact, and to some of our seniors that still like to exercise. So I'm a golf center guy so I could talk about how unique and wonderful our golf center is. But from our simulator to our practice facilities, just how the course is set up is a gem that most people don't really know. That's there.
Speaker 1:That simulator. Oh my goodness, it's cool, very cool. It's cool, very cool. And talk a little bit about how kids can use that simulator.
Speaker 3:Sure, sure. We partnered, or the vendor that we went to for that product was TrackMan. Trackman is the leader in golf simulation, whether you see it on the PGA Tour or LPGA Tour or seniors. You're going to see TrackMan being sort of used as the tech side and we're able to bring that inside and into our facility. Thankfully, through some of our support with Shelby County Fiscal Court and ARPA grants, we were able to make that possible and with the kids they can jump in and play desert cartoon games. And in golf we're always working to train.
Speaker 3:When it comes to how far you hit the ball and the direction you hit the ball, those are really the two variables that you there's a lot more people make golf a lot more complicated sometimes than it is, but that's okay, that's uh, that's part of the challenge and part of the adventure. But really, with the kids were really focused on the how far you hit it and the direction you hit it. So the in these games there's like a pinball um sort of um you know format. There's a um's a I want to say candy crush. There's where you take off light colors and you try to collapse the columns. Really, the one that's probably the coolest is called Mystic Pond, where there's these creatures that they can hit out of the pond if they hit it the right distance or the right direction.
Speaker 1:I think that's the one I was seeing. I think I would be playing that, even though I'm not a kid.
Speaker 3:Coming out of lessons, and up until I took this director's position, I was conducting 300-plus lessons a year private lessons with individuals and probably 40% of those were children under 15 years old, and they loved it.
Speaker 3:They loved getting in there. I mean, it was almost the carrot that you dangle for doing what they're supposed to do during the lesson. Well, if you do this and we hit that sign or we hit this disc, we're going to play the simulator, and they just love it. It is very interactive and there's a nice sitting area leather calf for parents to to set watch groups of three, four, three is what I recommend, four is available, but a safe spot. We've now got ice cream in the pro shop, so, okay, you know all kinds of things are going on there. So it's a really cool vibe with the simulator and then, if you just want to see the ball fly, you can step right out back and let it fly.
Speaker 1:So now this is still on golf, but one of the most surprising things I had found out was that we have a pro frisbee golf course.
Speaker 3:We do, which is amazing. Yes, we have a disc golf course at Red Orchard Park and you know, I've been told I'm not a disc golfer, I'm a traditionalist. I follow the white ball and not the Frisbee, but I've been told that it's a lengthy course. It is a challenging course.
Speaker 3:That's what we've heard too, and so we've hosted some events there in the past. You know most of these events are with partners that put on the events. They're not hosted per se by our parks department but in conjunction with our parks department. But you know it's a popular site for the disc golfers, so I've pledged that I'm going to throw a round of disc golf this year. But we'll see there's too many.
Speaker 1:I've tried it. You think that?
Speaker 3:there's just one disc, but they have multiple discs. It's three or four or five, you've got the driver, and then this and that. So I'm still waiting to learn what's going on with that, but at any rate, and you had mentioned camping, of course, lake Shelby.
Speaker 1:Another hidden gem is the full hookup. I think you've got at least one site that has full hookup, which is amazing.
Speaker 3:Well, we have, I believe, six. Oh my goodness, I believe we have six that you can rent that have the full hookups. We've got 10 available for RVs and we're hoping to add more. That would be something we'd love to see ongoing. We're working in a sort of constraints with space down there and making that next step to have more availability. And we've got a little entrance issue that we're working on to make sure we can accommodate all the sizes of RVs and things coming in.
Speaker 2:Maybe some flood mitigation.
Speaker 3:There is a little bit of water thing that we are working on. Thankfully our city is really on top of that, mayor Eddington and the public works crew it is actually a city road coming into our camping area and so they oversee that and have really helped us mitigate some of those water issues Well that's what we definitely need more campsites.
Speaker 1:People are crazy for camping. Yes, yes and very popular. If I remember right, you had a waiting list and everything.
Speaker 3:Right, we've got plans for four.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:In the near short term. Okay, Beyond that, we're still in the stages of figuring out how Well exciting.
Speaker 2:Well, so Changing gears just a little bit. The park hosts all kinds of summer camps and leagues and things like that, but are there any unique events that are coming up at the parks that you want to talk?
Speaker 3:about. Here's the thing we are going through. Like any new administration coming in, I see things that I've noticed for a number of years that I would like differently, and now we're in that spot we're able to start making those changes. It's very exciting and we've got some exciting things on the horizon, like very, very, very soon we're going to have a new website where folks can actually register online, pay online, fill out the waiver online.
Speaker 1:Excellent, that is good.
Speaker 3:So we could actually do camping sites. We can do, we just do. Multitude sponsors can even go on there and and and and on there and pledge their support for some of those events and activities. We have an app that's going to be coming out in conjunction with that, hopefully.
Speaker 3:I'd love to see it work in kind of geocache a person where they know where they are in conjunction with different fields or even different parts of the city and things like that, because we always get questions about directions Where's the next place to go eat? Where can we do this? And we have some that are there all day, so it would be neat if our app is going to be able to show them where they can just pop in.
Speaker 3:You're here, here's the next place to go get something to eat in downtown or whatnot, but that's coming out very, very soon, excited about that, of course, our leagues are in full swing Baseball's rocking and rolling, softball's rocking and rolling. Right now. We're working to formulate some camps because we're going to get back to our roots, one of the things that I've noticed I've always done a lot of instructional and that's been one of the things with me as a parks department head. I was still involved with the instructional side of it, so I was developing my own customers, and so I think with our parks department, we're going to have a sort of a more of a focus of developing our own players and taking some of our beginners or those that just want to get into into at least youth sports and provide camps, whether it's soccer, whether it's baseball, whether it's volleyball um, we're, we're.
Speaker 3:This year we'll be rolling out, I believe, one of those and then targeting more as time goes by. So, uh, very exciting things with all sports. We've got some travel ball events coming in. I've got a big one at the end of June that's coming in, and then they're coming back for sort of a second lap in September. So a lot of exciting things. One thing that we have done traditionally that we are taking a little pause on this year. We are going to take a pause on our Shake the Lake celebration, our firework show, things like that. We've got some new plans we just want to reevaluate. There's a number of firework shows and it does get just a number of factors that we're looking at Expenses, one Sure, making sure that we're providing a value that's unique for our community.
Speaker 3:We're actually looking at a late summer, maybe early fall festival at Red Orchard Park Ooh, fantastic. And we can do a music festival and have some various bands, different genres. I'd love to see a bluegrass element over there. I'm not a bluegrass connoisseur, but I appreciate the music and the talent, Absolutely.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of people who are though, oh yeah, and it's such a strong Kentucky connection. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:I think doing something like that, we want to get sort of out of the cover. Nothing against cover bands, but we kind of want to get out of that. I think we want to get to sort of unique music that's known in our area and some local bands. We're still testing that water out and figuring out how we're going to do it, but we'd really like to do that and work with some vendors. We've got such a strong presence of the distilleries and some other things that are downtown. Traditionally we're not able to work with those elements at parks, but at Red Orchard we're hopeful that we can sort of define a new environment there.
Speaker 3:We don't have sports leagues and youth events over there, so we're hoping, maybe, that we can host some of these type events at Red Jork. Still, we've got playgrounds and we would have youth events or youth activities, but more targeted for the adult element. Come in and appreciate that stuff.
Speaker 1:That sounds very exciting, very exciting. A minute ago you said a word, and it was geocache Exciting, Very exciting. A minute ago you said a word, and it was geocache what reminded me of another hidden gem that the park has, and that is geocaching. So, for those listening, geocaching is an online treasure hunt using your phone, and I had just looked up 40065, which is where the park is located, and two power trails One is in the shape of a duck and one is in the shape of a boat at Lake Shelby Park. So those of you who like geocaching it's absolutely free Go to geocachecom, put in that 40065, and then do those geocaches.
Speaker 3:So, anyway, that's my little tidbit and maybe, maybe that wasn't exactly how it's going, but I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker 1:Maybe it's location, sir, I don't know what it is.
Speaker 3:You said geocache and I went, that's right you know it's funny and and this is this is I've got some unique stories from that I'd love to share about parks and it's more my own experience and not so much as a parks director or a golf professional or anything like that. But one thing that I've been very fortunate to do at the parks is to be able to find these little rock club stones that people will paint and leave. Yes, and some of the most unique I've had a beautiful bird, you know, you're just.
Speaker 3:I'm walking, I'm in my, you know, I just got finished mowing greens, or I'm you know just got finished.
Speaker 3:You know doing something, and my least, the least thing I'm thinking about is looking around for rocks and all of a sudden a rock catches my attention. Yeah, and you go look at it and it's a painted rock from this Shelby Rocks Club. I think is who it is, and the last one I found was a and maybe I'm not as good as I should be in putting them back. I just appreciate the art. So I'll post them in the shop and let people see them, but it was an American flag.
Speaker 3:And it was striped and it was painted, it was beautiful. And then I found a beautiful bird one time and just you know. So the of of parks and the vibe, uh, there's just all sorts of elements where people are, are sort of engaging whether you see them engaging or not, uh, with things at the park. I, my son and I use the park a lot too. This is my second story. I'll tell you, my son and I use the park a lot for, uh, our adventures, like we'll metal detect and we'll we'll go down there's.
Speaker 3:you know, unique history of the park is um, and I want to be as sensitive as I can because I'm not exactly sure, but there was an Indian presence quite a long time ago and they found artifacts in certain areas of the park. I actually think I found an anchor in the creek.
Speaker 3:It has an etched out hole in the. It almost looks like a creek rock, a flat creek rock, but it's got an etched out hole and I did all this research and I think that it's something that they used to tie down either a boat or something to stretch fur or something Very cool, yeah, but I'd love to send you the picture of that.
Speaker 1:Oh, I would love to see it. I know like the listeners would probably love to see it.
Speaker 3:So more hidden gems, just investigating on the trails or whatever this was in, you know, because there's like 19 miles of Clear Creek and something like that. This was back. You know they say the presence of Native Americans mostly were where kind of our amphitheater is and our softball area and back towards Lake Shelby, which makes sense because there was the body of water.
Speaker 3:So it's just really neat to kind of tour around there and I know people have kind of did their adventuring back through there. The other element my son and I will wait in the creek. Sometimes We've got our waiters and most recently he and I found a 1910 Coca-Cola bottle from Louisville and it's very collectible and it was actually an amber-colored glass so it's just beautiful. I can't remember. It's got the arrow design, it's got a circular arrow design on it. Yeah, and it's six and a half pints.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's amazing.
Speaker 3:Or six and a half ounce Six and a half ounce. It's not an eight ounce. For 12 ounces it's a six and a half ounce.
Speaker 1:Right, just found it in a creek. They made Coca-Cola very differently back then. Yes, Very different recipe. Yeah for those that.
Speaker 3:There was no Coca-Cola in it. It was at the bottom of the creek. I know, yeah, but we do all that. We have found Lexington. We found a Lexington Coca-Cola bottle. We have yet to find a Shelbyville Coca-Cola bottle.
Speaker 1:And that's on his and I's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's sort of on our list, our bucket sort of list of what we want to find.
Speaker 3:We want to find a. We'll find it in the wild, because we had that distiller or we had that bottle here on the bottom has shelbyville. So we're hopeful that those those waterways we found pepsi, oh, 1940s pepsi bottles and things like that. So I really love getting out there um, but there's just all kinds of fun.
Speaker 1:Well, so many places to visit and so so many hidden gems to be found. Yes, I know, in tourism we talk about the quality of life, that bringing outside money and visitors into our community is such a big deal. But in your opinion, how is having a wonderful park system like what we have, how is that increasing our quality of life, bettering the community?
Speaker 3:Oh, wow. I can speak with this more from a standpoint of being a golf professional and what I've seen at the golf course. I've had folks come in, especially our elderly, that are just looking. There's two things. One they've either had medical issues and they need to stay active.
Speaker 3:One they've either had medical issues and they need to stay active and nine-tenths of the time I always get the story of once they retire that they just set and life is they tend to find, you know, medical issues pop up more readily. But when folks will stay active and keep that blood flowing they tend to they definitely improve their life and so I've had folks that have rebounded from, you know, just horrible diseases such as cancer and things like that and they're on the rebound and they come out and they start walking.
Speaker 3:They can play one hole this week and the next week they're playing three and before you know it they're playing in league and then they're back to practice. So I feel like that parks can give people their life back sometimes and then next week they're playing three and then before you know it they're playing in league and then they're back to action. So I feel like that parks can give people their life back sometimes. You know, and there's, you know we can look into, you know, our water aerobics program. We can look into some of the even our master gardeners that like to get out and work in the gardens, at parks, and it just brings a life back to folks sometimes when they're in their sort of second act, improving life. In addition, you know, through the peer-to-peer sort of interaction, there's a lot of folks that will not talk to someone for a day or two or three.
Speaker 1:But when?
Speaker 3:they get out, they just engage and just that five to ten minutes of engaging with other people, because we're very friendly. I mean you don't see a lot of frowns at parks. I mean everybody's usually intending to be there, unless they're going to work out on a treadmill. That's why we brought in the ice cream up there.
Speaker 1:That's funny.
Speaker 3:After they get off the treadmill. Usually we have smiles beforehand. But no, in all seriousness they're still friendly, and just that positive interaction can make a huge difference in seniors' lives especially. And then when we get to kids, adults, everybody's busy. They're just running, running, running. Hopefully that allows them to slow down a little bit and just kind of breathe it in.
Speaker 3:But the kids just most of it's structured around an activity. It's structured around baseball, it's structured around golf, it's structured around our youth camps and after school and things like that all the various non-athletic activities they do and just hopefully it helps build their integrity and their honesty and their more character traits that are going to stick with them. So parks is uh like I said. I think parks uh allows folks to either get their life back or improve their life, and so it's very good well, we are really lucky to have such a great parks department uh, and so speaking of, and obviously you're the director of parks, but there's a whole team that kind of makes all of this happen.
Speaker 2:So can you talk a little bit about some of the behind-the-scenes things that? People might find interesting. There's a lot that goes into doing the youth league of baseball or whatever, so can you talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 3:We have a phenomenal team. Of course the team as we grow continues to grow and you know we have a, I guess. To put it in perspective, our park system is 960 acres of property. It comes in three major parks and four mini parks. We don't so much engage on property that's not ours but we still are active in shows and some chamber showcases and things like that. But on our park system we host 885 games. So when you start looking at how many games we have 2,000 participants over the course of the year that are in our youth leagues and depending on what that is soccer, volleyball, fast pitch, futsal, baseball, junior golf it takes a lot to keep that going. We do have a very vibrant and full schedule.
Speaker 3:Our athletics department is great. We've just hired on a new athletics director, nick Ford. He's from Shelbyville, has a lot of roots here, has played Division II ball and done some really neat things in his career, and so we're really thankful for having him and I think our athletics department is going to continue to grow. So that department is one of seven. Our aquatics department we have Tom Coons who's a well-known coach and does really well there. We have a lot of activity. We have almost 40 lifeguards that are on staff, whether it's the outdoor pool, whether it's the indoor pool Wow. So, taking those things on, we've got a phenomenal maintenance supervisor. That's sort of jack-of-all-trades. We just continue to. He's sort of long in his career so we're wanting him to stay around as long as we can.
Speaker 3:But Earl McDowell does a phenomenal job and, of course, our sort of our keystone with Leanne Wood. She's sort of our. She's the assistant parks director and office administrator, and so you know, all of us work together. We're not a real big crew. We're more part-time and seasonal staff, but it takes a lot. We're really focused on our master schedule and making sure the communication is out there, so everybody's abreast of what we're doing at parks and can schedule and hopefully they'll see that in our app and and things. So, um, I've just got a got a great crew. Um, our youth services, um, jordan, uh, tetterton he is. He is great at what he does, so I could talk about all of them individually but we've got, we've just got.
Speaker 3:We've just got everybody who's who got, everybody who's just been in it and are passionate about it, and it shows in the work that we do.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:If you want to take that adventure into parks, please, Shelby County Parks, please come see us. We'd love to see who the next all-star is coming down the track.
Speaker 1:You're probably always hiring, I bet somebody.
Speaker 3:There's always something.
Speaker 1:Full-time, part-time. There's always something Full-time, part-time, whatever and you have kind of answered this question before. But in your downtime, when you want to relax, what is your favorite thing to do at Shelby County Parks?
Speaker 3:My downtime. I guess I'm a mudder of sorts. I think there's something called mudlarking. I don't know, and that's sort of a hobby of things where people will find stuff in creeks and mud banks and things like that.
Speaker 1:I was thinking you were a birdwatcher and there was a mudlark.
Speaker 3:No, I think it's called mudlark.
Speaker 2:I've seen like magnet fishing.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh, I have seen that. Yes, so I'm an adventurer.
Speaker 3:I seem like magnet fishing. Yes, oh, I have seen that. Okay, yes, so I'm an adventurer. I just like to. I just like to get out. My son likes to get out. He's nine, um, and and I did want to say that my wife is phenomenal, my son is phenomenal and I've got a great support system at home so it allows me to do a lot of these things and be engaged a lot at parks, and we all do have a big support system. So me getting out on my own and spending time at parks is I'm very grateful to my, to my family, and they want to spend some time there, even though I've been there for all week and things like that. So you know, my home, my home life is, is is park devoted too.
Speaker 3:So, I'm very grateful for that and being able to get out and wade through creeks and have some fun.
Speaker 1:Oh well, this has been fun and I can tell, and Mason, like we've learned a lot about those little hidden gems, too, that the parks have. But hopefully more people will come out, more people will do something new. Maybe try Pickleball, if you haven't ever tried Pickleball. But thank you so much for being with us.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And the last thing that I would mention is upcoming. A big exciting thing that we do have upcoming is we're going to be revamping the Family Activity Center.
Speaker 1:Oh, very exciting.
Speaker 3:And so we're going to put the activity back in the Activity Center.
Speaker 1:Okay, Very exciting, and so we're going to put the activity back in the activity center.
Speaker 3:Okay, you know, aside from everything that I'm sure you all have delved into the grant world and things like that you know we're looking for funding and working on some different items, but we're looking at moving our fitness center up to our Walters Center and creating a sports and fitness center. That's a collab with our athletics department some of our personal trainers Instead of being separate.
Speaker 1:And then?
Speaker 3:moving our youth center down to our, our main area in the lobby where we can have more of a, a nursery element in the front with some sensory sort of uh elements to it to cater to different, different uh um learning styles and things of kids.
Speaker 3:but but I really wanted to put that we're going to bring some arcade games back, hopefully into the back part of the activity center. I'd love to one day find the funding and this is sort of step B or phase B to have an activity patio in the back where we can have shuffleboard, four-squared little concerts and right you know, family movie nights and things like that.
Speaker 3:So we're really focused on getting some activity back into the activity center, um, and so I think that's going to be something where you know we're, we're uh, and we take some notes when we go to some of these big uh bolo ramas or right other experiences and and we're trying to bring a little of that element to our, to our community, to make sure that that the kids have someplace positive to go um, that they can, that they can utilize those, uh, those elements.
Speaker 3:So, other than that, the last thing that I was going to say is uh, we're very happy to announce that we received a, um, a very big grant from the state with Environmental and Energy Cabinet for a crumb rubber project. We received a $150,000 grant.
Speaker 1:That's amazing.
Speaker 3:And it's a matching grant, a 75-25 grant, that now we're going to resurface the Little Heroes Playground with crumb rubber and recycled rubber material.
Speaker 1:That's the handicap.
Speaker 3:It will be ADA compliant. Ada compliant yes, so we're very happy about that and we get such traffic to that. It's such a wonderful playground area, but it's getting ready to go supersized, okay.
Speaker 1:That is excellent. Ultra playground, fair, ultra playground. I love it.
Speaker 3:So we're very excited and thankful for that. Hopefully all that work is done by the end of the summer. Okay and uh, we got all kinds of stuff going well your energy is wonderful we, you're.
Speaker 1:You're going to be wonderful for the park, thank you absolutely well, uh, anything else before we wrap up? No, I said my last, last thing, so oh, we could go on, there are so many parts to our park system that the interview could go on, but we will not. We'll cut it here. Yes, indeed.
Speaker 3:Thanks so much for being on this. No, thank you all for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:This has been Kentucky Hidden Wonders. Thank you to Derek Griffiths for coming on the show and thank you for listening. If you've made it this far, make sure you subscribe and leave us a review. We'll return with a brand new Kentucky Hidden Wonders episode in two weeks. Bye everyone. Kentucky Hidden Wonders is a Shelby KY Tourism production. Your hosts are Janet and Mason Moore. To learn more about Shelby KY Tourism and to start planning a visit, head to visitshelbykycom.
