Rhodes Jordan Park Reopens After Renovations

Families strolled the new walking path along the lake as government officials from the City of Lawrenceville and Gwinnett County gathered to officially re-open .

The county park located on the edge of Downtown Lawrenceville recently underwent $7.3 million in renovations and upgrades. They include improvements to three soccer fields, three large pavilions, horseshoe courts and basketball courts. New restrooms and parking spaces were also added. The money for the project came from Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds.

“I think it’s wonderful that these additions have come to Rhodes Jordan Park because it offers activities for the very young to the old,” said Lawrenceville Mayor Judy Jordan Johnson. “And it’s a place where people can gather as families and have fun and fellowship.”

Johnson’s three-year-old twin nieces accompanied her to the ribbon cutting ceremony. Kathryn and Elizabeth Carter are the great-granddaughters of former Lawrenceville Mayor Rhodes Jordan, for whom the park is named after. They already had the chance to enjoy the swings and jungle gyms on the park’s property. Although shy, judging by their smiles, they approved of the improvements.

Melissa and Michael Henderson took advantage of the new walking trail as they brought their one-month-old son Landon out for a stroll. “I think it’s gorgeous!” said Melissa enthusiastically. “It gives people a lot more space, we can see a lot more people at the park at once.” Michael said he believes the best part of the park is the new swings overlooking the water.

The City of Lawrenceville and Gwinnett County have had a partnership since 1991 when the two groups entered into a long term lease agreement. But County Board of Commissioners Chairman Charlotte Nash recalled the two entities working together informally long before that. “I can recall as a kid growing up in the Harbins section, the community south of Dacula, Lawrenceville had one of the very, very few public pools in the area,” Nash told the crowd. “They didn’t stop us at the boundary of the city and say ‘You don’t live in Lawrenceville, you can’t come swim in the pool.’”

On Saturday, March 31st, the park will host a . The festivities will run from 10am until 4pm and feature carnival rides, live music, trolley rides and more.

Mayor Johnson said if her father Rhodes Jordan were still alive “He would be so pleased. He was a people person and he loved to go where people gathered. He loved to have family events together and this is a place the epitomizes both of those, so he would be very pleased.”