FUTURE PARKS WILL BE RESPITE FROM FAST-PACED, TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD

As city living becomes more technical and complicated the parks are going to become simpler and more diverse.

Cape Girardeau County Parks Supervisor Bruce Watkins said he sees the county parks providing a retreat where people can walk in quiet woods or gather with family for cookouts.

"We have a tremendous number of walkers that come out for exercise," Watkins said. "Some people would routinely not pass the day without coming to the county park to do their walking."

Cape Girardeau's county parks offer rolling hills, lakes and nature paths. Watkins said one addition the county parks department will be making over the next few years will be more shelters.

"The county park in particular is not quite like the city parks in that it's not sports-oriented," he said. "It is more a family reunion, picnic-type park. We do not have complexes for organized sports activities."

The demand for trails in the county parks is also leading Watkins to build a handicap-accessible trail that will be mostly level and smooth.

"That will completed in mid-spring or early summer," he said. "That gives you an idea of what this park it geared for."

Dan Muser, director of the Cape Girardeau City Parks Department, said city parks will continue to provide diversity in the types of parks and activities that can be found in them.

"As people become more urbanized the need for green space and open areas and recreational-type facilities just increases," Muser said. "I think the interest in sports in this country has increased over the years."

Participation in sports is also on the rise, he said.

"Part of that I think is from the influence of professional sports," Muser said. "People like the idea that they are competing like the professionals. As people become attuned to the idea of professional sports and the idea that they want to be like a professional sportsman, their idea of what a sufficient playing field is has changed. There's people playing amateur sports on better facilities than what the professionals used to use not all that many years ago."

Muser said the new city softball-soccer complex and community center, which will have recreational aspects, are examples of the types of facilities that will become more common in the city park system.

Both Muser and Watkins said they see community and governmental interest in the parks rising. The county commission, Watkins said, places a high priority on the county park system and takes pride in its advancements.

Muser said there will probably be a combination of large city parks filled with ballfields and small neighborhood parks where people can walk to from their homes.

"There is a desire for people to have leisure areas that are not developed, that are more natural," Muser said. "On a local level we are fortunate to have areas that are natural that people are going to want to use to kind of get away from it all."