Cabin fever, anyone?
Although the Metroparks Toledo park system is open year-round in Lucas County, the tone of Wednesday’s monthly Board of Park Commissioners meeting made it clear that people working for it have high expectations for 2025 and are itching to begin what they unabashedly claim will be the biggest year in park district’s history.
In fact, the staff has come up with a name and date to officially end the winter blahs and seasonal doldrums.
It’s called Opening Play, a campaign to kick off the park district’s busy season of spring and summer programming.
It begins on May 18, with an event called Outdoor Discovery Day that launches some 1,500 outdoor programs for an expected 140,000 or more attendees. Most of those programs are during the warm weather months.
From that point on, visitors can expect to see all parks and other facilities fully open and amenities in use.
The Opening Play concept was presented to the board by Matt Killam, Metroparks Toledo chief external relations officer, and Mike Keedy, the park district’s chief engagement and enterprise officer.
“Opening Play weekend at Glass City Metropark & Riverwalk is the official start of the summer season on the Toledo Riverfront,” according to the presentation Mr. Killam and Mr. Keedy made to the board.
The opening line of their presentation contained an eye-popping statistic, one which stated 62 percent more Lucas County residents used the system’s parks and facilities last year compared to 2017, and 48 percent more residents from other counties did during that same time period.
“We are an incredibly important cultural institution that is on an uptick, “ Mr. Killam told the board.
After the meeting, he told The Blade that the coronavirus pandemic did indeed help increase park attendance here, as it did in other parts of the country, but he said Metroparks Toledo has been able to sustain that momentum since.
“We’re seeing spikes in attendance in every metric,” he said.
That includes more than a million visits to East Toledo in a little more than a year for such amenities as the Glass City Metropark and its multiple features, from participation in the popular Glow Skate events along the frozen skating trail known as the Ribbon to concerts inside the park.
“I was shocked at this data,” Mr. Killam said of the park system in general. “A 62 percent increase is incredible. The amount of everyday use is staggering.”
The momentum is being carried forward into 2025 with such features as:
● The newly completed Toledo Pickle Co. facility along the Maumee River, opposite Glass City Metropark. This season will be the first in which outdoor courts and the riverfront patio connected to the building’s restaurant are put into use, Mr. Keedy said.
● The reopening of the Wheelhouse Coffee and Tap Room at the Beach Ridge area of Oak Openings Preserve. The park district announced Wednesday that local beer-maker Earnest Brew Works has been selected as the new vendor, with reopening expected in May. Earnest is taking over from HEAVY Beer Co., which recently announced it was ceasing all operations there and at its headquarters on North Summit Street.
● The 50th anniversary celebration of Wildwood Preserve Metropark, with a series of programs inside the heavily visited park.
● The five-year anniversary celebration of the Swanton-area Cannalay Treehouse Village inside a portion of Oak Openings Preserve Metropark, near the Wheelhouse. “We had more rentals last year than we did the first year,” Mr. Keedy told the board.
● More boating along the five-mile Glass City Riverwalk that’s under construction along both sides of the Maumee River. “We’ve got new and updated docks,” Mr. Keedy said.
● Expanded programs at Glass City Metropark and some new offerings, such as a kickoff party for the return of the Italian Bowl, the second to be held in Toledo. It will be the Italian League’s 44th championship game and is scheduled for June 28 at the University of Toledo’s Glass Bowl. Among other events planned for Glass City Metropark is a Sip Into Spring Beer Tasting Festival, a follow-up to one by a different name last year.
● The potential for more camping, from primitive tent sites to the luxurious treehouse village. Last year, the park district logged 3,100 overnight reservations and was visited by more than 10,000 campers.
● Greater use of open-air shelters and indoor facilities, including the cabanas at Glass City Metropark. Last year’s figures included more than 6,500 celebrations, more than 1,500 cabana reservations, and more than 300,000 family celebrations in various parks, the report stated.
“More and more people are using the Metroparks,” Mr. Killam said.
Board members said they were impressed by the presentation.
“It’s almost too much to take in at one time,” said Fritz Byers, one of the board’s vice presidents.
The board’s other vice president, Lera Doneghy, said she’s impressed by the breadth of programs and how rapidly the park system is making connections in East Toledo.
“Oftentimes, we land on lists that aren’t that flattering,” another commissioner, Molly Luetke, said of Toledo in general. “I’m so proud to be part of Metroparks in this moment.”
For his part, Earnest Brew Works co-owner Scot Yarnell told The Blade he’s excited to land the Wheelhouse contract because he is an avid bicyclist himself and enjoys that building’s bicycling theme.
He envisions a setup that resembles his beer company’s offerings at its downtown location, where there are 12 taps. The original South Toledo and the satellite Westgate locations have 18 taps.
The only thing keeping him from installing 12 taps at the Wheelhouse site might be the size of the cold room where kegs will be located. He was out there when giving The Blade a telephone interview on Wednesday. Although he is in the process of working out such details, he expects no fewer than 10 taps to be installed there.
There also will be cans of Earnest beer for sale at the Wheelhouse, Mr. Yarnell said.
Operating hours will be similar to those the Wheelhouse had in the past, he said.
“I’m looking forward to a nice grand opening party,” Mr. Yarnell said.
Mr. Keedy said it “was important to us to have that [Wheelhouse beer and coffee] back in the spring, and that’s the plan.”
First Published February 26, 2025, 8:03 p.m.
