The Boyk Brief
Go into chambers with attorneys Chuck Boyk, Mike Bruno, Zac Shaffer, and the attorneys of Charles Boyk Law Offices on The Boyk Brief, as we talk with interesting personalities from the legal world, celebrities, experts, business & community leaders, and other engaging people about a variety of topics.
The Boyk Brief
Boyk Brief Episode 31 - Scott Carpenter of Metroparks Toledo
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Attorney Andrea Young talks with Scott Carpenter, Public Relations Director for Metroparks - Toledo, about Glass City Riverwalk and other new developments in the nation's best park districts.
A video version of this episode of The Boyk Brief podcast is available on YouTube https://youtu.be/oNzGiUmBCDY
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I'm Andrea Young. I'm an attorney here at Charles Boyclaw office, and I have the privilege today of speaking with Scott Carpenter, Director of Public Relations for Metro Parks of Toledo. Hi, Scott.
SPEAKER_01Okay, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for being here today. I want to start with how long have you been with Toledo Metro Parks?
SPEAKER_01I'm coming up on my 25th anniversary. So this July will be 25 years.
SPEAKER_00And you're currently director of public relations, is that correct?
SPEAKER_01I am, yes. And that entails uh these days a lot of working with media. Uh when I started here 25 years ago, I I was a newspaper, had been a newspaper reporter, and I hired in basically as a writer because the way we communicated in those days was through print publications such as a magazine that we put out every month. And uh today we have so many communications channels, and we have different people who pitch in on social media and um the whole gamut of ways that we communicate. And my job is really settled more into dealing with uh with media inquiries and uh um trying to uh spread the word about the great things going on in Toledo far and wide.
SPEAKER_00As far as spreading the word, I see that you've had some publications and you have some lecture series. Um, so is the current lecture series, are you talking about something uh sustaining our world or some kind of sustaining? Oh tell me about that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so uh Dana Incorporated um is one of the um donors behind Glass City Riverwalk, which is our current major project for the next several years. And as part of their gift, which include included not only a financial contribution and some um a series of public uh cleanup days, work days to clean up our our riverfront. They also are sponsoring a sustaining our world lecture series. Um, sustainability is important to uh to many corporations, very important to Dana. Uh certainly it's what uh we base everything on at Metro Parks. And so it was a really nice opportunity to to work with the uh a Fortune 500 company uh to to bring in some national caliber speakers over the next few years, uh, and we'll do four a year um starting in May with uh some local folks and uh and then branching out from there.
SPEAKER_00So, what's going on currently in the metro parks? Is there anything new and upcoming that you would like people to know about?
SPEAKER_01You know, we're uh in the midst of the largest project in our history, which is Glass City Metro Park in East Toledo and Glass City Riverwalk, which will extend from the park and uh encompass both sides of the Maumee River in downtown Toledo and in East Toledo. That'll be a five-mile walking path with 300 acres of uh green space from the Veterans Glass City Skyway to the Anthony Wayne Bridge. Uh on the east side, that'll include uh all of International Park, which we will be acquiring from the City of Toledo and uh renovating as part of this process. So that's been occupying a lot of our time. It's it's the biggest thing we've ever done. And uh it's it's new and different for us, but the the impact is just going to be tremendous for our region.
SPEAKER_00Is there a date in mind that it should be available to the public?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so phase one of Glass City Metro Park is open now and uh includes the Glass Pavilion and a sledding hill and some really nice gathering places. Phase two of the park is under construction as we speak and will be completed um just after the first of the year. So very very much under construction right now. That'll include a building that'll house a restaurant, among other things, our region's first ice skating ribbon. So it'll be a refrigerated ice skating like trail. And then hopefully we'll be skating on that ice skating ribbon by next winter, uh, as well as some really unique children's play nodes uh that uh we think will be destinations in themselves. Right around the time that's done, we'll be begin construction of Riverwalk, the first part of it, which will uh jump over Main Street literally with a bridge uh into International Park, and then also on the other side of the river from the MLK Bridge to the uh uh Ford Industry Square.
SPEAKER_00Wow, that sounds super exciting! I cannot wait. How many metro parks are there?
SPEAKER_01There are 19 now, which is just amazing because when I started uh 25 years ago, there were nine. And for 40 years, Wildwood was the new metro park, it was the ninth metro park. So in the last 10 years, we've opened 10 new parks. Uh, and it's just it's it's it's been a whirlwind, a whirlwind uh of activity. Um, but all of this started back in 2002 when we passed a small levy to use to raise local funds to use as match for some state grants, and we began buying additional property. And those some of those, most of those properties are now opening to the public. So um we're like an overnight success, 20 years in the making.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Recently, though, in 2020, we opened three new parks in one year, uh, as well as the treehouse village at Oak Opening. So, in the midst of the pandemic, we had really our biggest year ever.
SPEAKER_00Wow, and I wanted to get into that. Can you tell me a little bit more about the treehouse village and what that entails and how you can rent one if you want to?
SPEAKER_01Book far out because they're very popular. Um, but uh but there are some available. There are only five. I say only, there are five really incredible tree houses, but uh but five fill up pretty fast. Um the Cannely Treehouse Village is built on an addition to Oak Openings Preserve in Swanton, and it includes uh two two-person, a four-person, and a six-person tree house, and three tent platforms where you can camp in tents or in hammocks up in the tree canopy. Uh, it's been really well received and it's gotten a lot of attention nationally uh because it is it's the first treehouse village in a public park that we're aware of anywhere.
SPEAKER_00And there was also something I saw about fit parks. Are there um fit parks within any of the metro parks in the area?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so Mercy Health uh partnered with Metro Parks a few years ago to start building these active areas with unique um outdoor recreation opportunities. So the first fit park was at Wildwood Preserve uh at the east entrance. Um and it's like a it's like an outdoor gym with uh with some um workout you know um equipment. Um the second one was called Fit Park Ride, and it's out in Swanton by the Trios Village, and it's a uh mountain bike skills course, so it's right near a 12-mile mountain bike trail, so you can practice your skills on some of the obstacles that you'll find on the actual trail. And then they have Fit Park, um, a Fit Park at Farnsworth Metro Park, which is a kayak concession. So um all these different experiences, uh, but aimed at getting people outdoors for active, healthy um activities.
SPEAKER_00That's great, and I'm super excited about that. Um, regarding the kayak, is there also going to be a feature um at the new Middle Grounds?
SPEAKER_01Well, Middle Grounds opened five years ago, and it is part, it will be part of what we what we're calling um Glass City Riverwalk.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01So the new Glass City Metro Park and Middle Grounds will be connected with Riverwalk. So within Riverwalk, yes, there will be a kayak share um similar to what we have at a few other parks like Howard Marsh. And these are these are big lockers with uh that you use an app where you can rent a kayak like a bike share. Um, and um we're some other folks are starting to do this across the country now, but uh we we think we invented it. I don't know, somebody have to prove us wrong, but I think our folks uh had the idea, and in fact, the vendor that does the the app um had to create that for us, and now they're they're selling it to to others, so so maybe we did invent it.
SPEAKER_00So I know that there's various events at certain times, archery, um looks like camping, things like that. Um do you have events monthly, or how often can people access events?
SPEAKER_01We have dozens of events every month, and um it's sort of a shotgun approach. We have uh events, you know, at all days and times uh to try to reach as many people as we can. And uh a few years ago we started uh what we call outdoor skills programming. So we've always had nature walks and those sort of passive programs, history tours. Um, but today we're actually teaching people how to use their metro parks with uh classes on backpacking, uh tree climbing, kayaking, camping, fire starting, and those sort of skills. And they've been really popular, and so we uh and with all ages too. So they're ongoing. Uh if you check uh metroparkstoludo.com uh and go to our calendar, you'll see a pretty pretty robust list of programs. Some of our programs have limited um numbers and so we require registration, others do not require registration and are unlimited in number. Uh, usually we have registration open right up until about three days before the actual event. Um, but you can also put yourself on a waiting list if it happens to be full, and very often somebody will drop out for whatever reason and a slot will open up.
SPEAKER_00What is your favorite metro park?
SPEAKER_01I've always been partial to the river parks, and now we've been adding river like middle grounds and now class city. So uh metro parks actually began at the river at Sidecup, the very first one of our parks, and in the 1930s. And uh I've just I've personally always been drawn to the river. Um Howard Marsh is coming in there pretty close too now because that's out by Lake Erie. And I've always been fascinated by the uh the marshlands, uh, which are really rich with wildlife. And um so I don't know, it's hard to it's hard to pick, but uh if I had to pick one, and I uh I think a lot of my coworkers might agree. Farnsworth, one of our smaller parks in Waterville, um, I think might be my favorite.
SPEAKER_00Gotcha. I actually frequent Farnsworth quite frequently because I'm in Waterville, so I know all about it. Love the canal and kayak there, so it's great. How can people help out with the Metro Parks?
SPEAKER_01We have a tremendous volunteer program uh in any given year, between three and four thousand volunteers who pitch in, um, some of them ongoing, like our volunteer trail patrol. Uh, that's a really dedicated group of people that uh commit to so many hours, like 60 hours a year of walking the trails to be eyes and ears for our staff and lend customer service to our visitors. Um, and then we have uh episodic volunteers, like we'll have a uh a work day um and classes will come out, you know, students from elementary to to university level. Um, and everything in between. We have volunteers who lead tours of the manor house, um, and volunteers who will be um docents at a new visitor center opening soon at our fallen at the Fallen Timbers Battlefield in Maumee, talking about the history of that site. So, in addition to volunteering, we we do have a foundation um you can become a member of and uh make financial contributions to Metro Parks. Uh our foundation was founded just uh a couple of years ago, and the Triouse Village was actually their first project. Uh Joe Napoli uh from the Mud Hens and Walleye is the president of the foundation. And um for the Triouse Village, they raised actually they exceeded their million and a million and a half dollar goal uh to be able to pay for uh for that whole entire development um without taxpayer dollars. And they're now focused on the Riverwalk project, which is a $200 million uh riverfront development, um, only half of which will be covered by a tax levy and the rest by grants and philanthropic giving.
SPEAKER_00And how can people find out more about that? Is that on your website?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's on our website at Metro ParksToledo.com, or they can go right to um Metro Parks Toledo Foundation.org uh to find out uh specifically, but one will take you to the other, so they're linked.
SPEAKER_00Is there anything that you would like people to know that they probably wouldn't know otherwise?
SPEAKER_01Well, our uh the the our latest uh claim to fame, I think, um, is that we have a metro park within five miles of everybody in Lucas County, every residence in Lucas County. And um, someday we'll all just be able to take that for granted. But uh once in a while I like to remind people just how unusual that is, and uh uh and that's all because of the incredible support we've had from Lucas County residents for the last 94 years. Um, other park districts, even in Ohio, have that same goal, but I don't know of any others that have actually reached it. And uh our board president Scott Savage likes to say um that used to be our mission's uh our vision statement. And he he said he'd never been involved in an organization before that actually achieved its mission its vision, so they had to rewrite it. Um, so that's a big deal uh to for just for for equally distributing access to natural resources across our county. When I started here, most of all of the metro parks really, except for one, were in the or around Toledo, out in the suburbs, uh, which made sense. You find a natural area and you preserve it and make it a beautiful park. But in the last 20 years, we've we've reached into the city center and uh started recreating natural areas, uh former industrial sites and literal dump sites like middle grounds that you mentioned, um, and turning them back into useful, beautiful places that uh that I think are a double benefit because they they erase a negative and they add something positive for the community.
SPEAKER_00I'm a native of Toledo and I've grown up enjoying the Metro Parks, and I am so proud of all the progress and um you know just the opportunity that it has given to Toledo residents and surrounding areas. So thank you for being a part of that. Um, what is the best way for people to get more information? Is that going to the website, social media?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the website is sort of the repository for all things, but uh social media really is where all the action is. That's where most people are uh finding information about programs. And um, we're fortunate to have a nature photographer on staff who's out uh just about every day. And uh, when you see his beautiful pictures online, they they might have been taken that day or the day before. So it's where you can really stay connected to what what things look like, how things are going uh out in the parks, especially this time of year as we're in this seasonal transition.
SPEAKER_00Fantastic. Well, Scott, it's been a pleasure having you on. Um, I can't wait to get out there and enjoy more of the Metro Parks this spring. Um, thanks for being on today.
SPEAKER_01Thanks so much. Thanks for having me.