City parks: Worth their weight in gold!

Advance's Umfleet Park shows off the brilliant color of its old trees, standing over the bright colors of the children's playground.

I love parks! In almost every community around the nation, early city leaders have had the wisdom to establish parks.

There are times in the life of a community, when parks are neglected. Weeds take hold, trees die and are not replaced, facilities fall into disrepair.

Such neglect is short-sighted, because a community is judged, in part, by the quality of its parks.

I especially like the old parks, the ones established long ago, the ones with tall oaks, trees which bloom in the spring and trees with colorful leaves in the fall.

I like quiet parks, where I can sit on a bench and watch the squirrels scratch through the leaf litter and acorns.

I like parks where grandparents can bring their grandchildren, and mothers can walk with their babies in strollers.

Years ago, when my only daughter was small, she suggested that we come to the park, so she could skate, while I walked the circle.

She even brought her little black dog named "Wuz," short for "Isabelle", a nickname that her father gave the pup. She tied a short length of rope to Wuz's collar, and 'round and 'round we went.

Every Labor Day, our little old park is full of uncustomary life, when the carnival comes to town for a day. Children ride the kiddie rides, and their parents buy corn dogs and funnel cakes with confectioners' sugar.

There are beauty contests (always), pony rides (every so often), and (once) a cowboy re-enactment.

Every year, I meet someone I haven't seen in a long time.

As I write this piece about parks, I'm reminded of the park our tour group went to in Berlin in 1998. It was unlike any park I'd ever seen: I guess the Europeans are more casual than we are about their public gathering paces.

How was it different, you ask?

Well, for one thing, the park was considerably more wild and unkempt than ours. Sparse grass and scrubby bushes were allowed to grow up throughout. Mowing seemed not to be in fashion. There were no kiddie playgrounds, and good thing, because the park's visitors seemed not to be concerned about whether they wore clothes.

In London, near Piccadilly Square, our group was quite shocked to see a young man relieving himself in the park.

Oh, my! Oh, my!

Parks are lovely places, indeed, though not all parks are created equal!