The Gathering Place has been named the Best City Park in the country by USA Today for a second time.
Phase 1 of the Gathering Place opened in September 2018. The 66.5-acre park stretches along both sides of Riverside Drive for more than a mile, offering a mix of eye-popping and challenging attractions for children of all ages, a pond for kayaking and canoeing, basketball courts, a skate park, a lodge, a boathouse and other amenities.
“Gathering Place is honored to be voted Best City Park for the second time in the park’s five-year history,” Executive Director Julio Badin said in a statement. “This readers’ choice award is a testament to the incredible support we have received from the Tulsa community. We are humbled by how the community rallied to boost the park to the No. 1 spot, securing another accolade for our city.”
In 2019, the park was named USA Today’s Best New Attraction; in 2021, USA Today named Gathering Place the Best City Park in the country.
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The Gathering Place was created in large part with the largest private gift to a public park in U.S. history. Donated to the River Parks Authority by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, which gave $200 million (including $50 million worth of land), it has received $200 million in pledges from corporate and community philanthropists. The city contributed $65 million in park infrastructure and improvements to Riverside Drive.
Twenty city parks across the U.S. were selected as finalists prior to a monthlong public vote. Also in the top 10 as voted on by the public were Golden Gate Park, San Francisco; Forest Park, St. Louis; Wildwood Preserve Metropark, Lucas County, Ohio; Klyde Warren Park, Dallas; Ala Moana Regional Park, Honolulu; Railroad Park, Birmingham, Alabama; Bruce Park, Greenwich, Connecticut; Falls Park on the Reedy, Greenville, South Carolina; and Loring Park, Minneapolis.
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