Hurley Park is a unique place, and we often receive questions about how the park operates.

People are curious and surprised that we do not have a playground area and that we are not located on Hurley School Road. That is a completely different park.

We also get confused with City Lake which is right across the street from our area. Another surprising fact is that we have about 18 acres, a mile worth of trails, numerous gardens and only two full-time employees. We do get occasional assistance from our maintenance department.

In today’s article, I am going to share with you some tidbits and some great news that is happening for Hurley Park.

Since starting at Hurley Park, I have made it one of my missions to increase the awareness and publicity of the park. It is such a unique treasure; I want to make sure everyone is aware of the activities, events and even what is in bloom. Ensuring that kind of public awareness is a good thing but can also be difficult.

We are reviewed quite frequently; many give us great reviews, but the occasional visitor will give us a poor assessment because they think Hurley Park needs to have flowers blooming year round, manicured lawns, no weeds in sight, and every structure should have no blemish.

Gardening, especially outdoors, is not a flawless kind of thing. There will be weeds, unfortunate trash and plants suffering when there is a drought. We enjoy getting feedback because it helps us keep eyes on the park.

When we have reviews that may not make sense, it reminds us that many individuals do not garden, care for their lawn or have any plants. They may not know these things but could benefit from some of this education. Hurley Park tries to educate the public on these occurrences, but we really need the village to help educate everyone, too. That’s how we can instill the passion and concern for nature and gardening into others, so I hope more of you try to do that with your friends and family.

Some good news for Hurley Park is that we are in the process of hiring for our assistant manager position. We are beyond thrilled with what this position will help me and the park accomplish. We are hoping in the next coming weeks to select a candidate and have them start as soon as possible. For our regulars and visitors, they will enjoy seeing a new face in the park and I cannot wait to have a partner in crime (just kidding — I really meant a new co-worker).

The last bit of good news is that park attendees will start to see a lot of repairs going on. One of the newest items is a bridge near the Fern Glade. This should make that portion of the park more accessible, and the bridge is being built to last a considerable amount of time. We will also start working on other wooden structures in the park to make necessary repairs and updates.

As always, we will continue letting readers and the public know about what is going on and happening in the park. If you visit our park, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram. We encourage honest reviews as we do read them and try to make your visit to the park the best it can be.

If you want to help the park even more, you can always volunteer or make a donation to the Hurley Park Foundation at: www.salisburync.gov/HurleyPark. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer, please call us at 704-638-4459.