Connie Edmonston People love her parks by Lara Jo Hightower | Today at 1:00 a.m. Connie Edmonston the former Fayetteville Parks and Recreation director retired July 9 after 35 years. She is photographed in Wilson park July 8, 2021 in Fayetteville. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Spencer Tirey) "We were going to make the world a better place, through recreation," says Connie Edmonston, retiring Fayetteville director of Parks and Recreation, reflecting on the plan she and her husband, Craig, had while in college. "That was our goal." There's little doubt she succeeded. She was asked to compile a list of milestones during her more than three-decade tenure in the Parks and Recreation department. "These were not projects created totally by me – it takes a city to create an amazing parks system in which to live, work and play," she wrote at the top of the list. Successful initiatives include the purchases or donations of major parks including Finger, Gulley (as well as the Gulley Park 10-acre expansion), Mount Sequoyah Woods, Kessler Mountain Regional, Centennial Parks and the Brooks Hummel Nature Preserve. More than 1,700 acres of parks have been added to the city since 1982, or an increase from 14 to 55 parks. Edmonston was one of the forces behind the Razorback Greenway, and she was a member of the first Trails Committee that helped create the first adopted trails plan for Fayetteville. She negotiated with Iams, a major dog food brand, for a donation to help build the first Fayetteville dog park. She also launched the first Parks Planning Division, which, she says, "designs plans for new and renovated parks in-house, as well as manages the Park Land Dedication process and funds." She brought innovative, modern features to the park system like the Grinders Skate Park and Disc Golf Courses at Walker Park North and Lake Fayetteville, respectively. She acknowledged the need for youth and adult activities that were alternatives to sports by starting the youth dance program, the clogging program, the aerobic dance program and the children's theater. Before she started it in 1983, the city didn't have a park volunteer program. She helped out working parents by creating the after-school program at the Fayetteville Youth Center and summer day camps. She promoted swimming safety by instituting a mother and tot swimming program.