The campaign to renovate Mill Creek MetroParks Ford Nature Center received a $1 million challenge grant from the Sand Hill Foundation of Menlo Park, California. The Sand Hill Foundation is a private family foundation established by the late Tom Ford and Susan Ford in 1995. The $3 million campaign to renovate the 106 year old former Robinson Mansion, which houses the Ford Nature Center, has raised $1 million to date. The challenge grant offered by the Sand Hill Foundation will match new donations to the campaign up to $1 million.

The estate was originally gifted to Mill Creek MetroParks in 1968 by the heirs of the late Judge John W. Ford. After a brief period of hosting the park’s administration offices, the site was transformed into the Ford Nature Center in 1972. Since then, many generations of Valley residents have enjoyed the exhibits, programs, walking trails and special events contained within the MetroParks. The Center receives over 14,000 school children visits every year.

“On behalf of the staff of the MetroParks and the board of directors of the Mill Creek MetroParks Foundation, I would like to express my gratitude to Susan Ford Dorsey for this generous gift. This gift will allow us to not only extend the mission of educating the park’s visitors about the natural wonders of the world for generations to come, but it also extends the wonderful legacy of the Ford Family here at Mill Creek,” says Chris Litton, Mill Creek MetroParks Director of Development.

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A local bank is continuing its commitment to a project at Mill Creek Park.

Home Savings presented a check Wednesday morning for $12,500 to the MetroParks.

It’s to install Dasher Boards at the Dek Hockey Rink. Dasher Boards run the perimeter of the rink, protecting spectators from players.

Home Savings partnered with the Youngstown Phantoms and the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation over the summer to build the rink in the Wick Recreation Area.

They refurbished the old ice rink into a year-round street hockey rink. Now kids can play street or roller hockey on the rink — no ice needed.

“In addition to the hockey, we’ll also have box lacrosse and we’ll also have soccer available here, we’ll have rental equipment here and the Wick Recreation Area so you don’t necessarily have to have your own equipment to come here to play,” said Brian Tolnar, with Mill Creek MetroParks. “In addition, we’ll also have some adult leagues, some junior leagues as well to get them into the game of hockey and lacrosse.”

The rink is available first come, first serve but you can call the MetroParks to reserve it as well. Next spring, the plan is to install lights so kids and adults can play into the night.

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Mill Creek MetroParks held its Sunset at the Farm event Saturday to showcase its farm park. 

Hundreds came out for the activities, including hay rides that ran down the hike and bike trail. 

There was also a corn maze, a petting zoo, pony rides and food for guests to check out.  

Parents at the event said they were happy to get their kids away from a screen for a few hours. 

“It was great to get fresh air and finally some fall weather that we can enjoy and not be too hot,” said Candance Horvath from Canfield. 

Organizers said getting the word out was only part of the reason to hold the event.  

“I feel great that so many people are showing up from all over East Palestine, Columbiana, some from Pennsylvania. We get some of them from even Florida that are visiting,” said Linda Miller, a volunteer at Mill Creek MetroParks. 

The event was free and ran until sunset. 

There will also be hay rides next Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

 

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The Mill Creek MetroParks Farms hosted their weekly family tour event on Aug. 2.

The event runs throughout the summer and is used to showcase all the unique aspects of the farms while providing a fun event for families to attend together.

“Primarily it gives families the opportunity to bring little kids in,” said Bill Gilmour, a parks employee who ran the tour, “It’s a group bonding thing.”

The Family Tour event has been going on every summer for about a decade according to Kimberly Moff, a parks employee.

“It helps to keep people in touch with the farm,” Moff said.

She explained that a lot of people, even adults, are unaware of where the food they eat comes from.

This tour helps to showcase what the MetroParks Farms do, and how they operate to create the food we eat every day.

“We talk a lot about the farm to try to keep them in touch with the fact that their food doesn’t just come from the grocery store, there’s actually a place where it all starts,” Moff said.

To attend the event families have to preregister through the Metro Parks and 35 people are welcome to attend each week.

Gilmour said that even though the event takes place weekly in the summer, they still have a full or almost full group every Thursday.

To battle these numbers the parks also hosts a similar tour event about once a month on a Sunday from 1-4 p.m. Moff said.

During the tour guests take a tractor ride through the farms.

The tour goes to the poultry house and the barns where tour guests get to see and learn about all of the animals the farms keep.

“If we are harvesting wheat we can talk about that, if they are making hay we are talking about that,” Moff said. “Its kind of based on what we have going on at the farm at the time.”

During the tractor ride the tour guide uses props and goes over information about the farm and animals. The tour also goes through the barns where all of the new and old animals live, sometimes allowing children and their families to pet them. Recently, the farms have been showcasing the new born babies they have, including kids and calves Gilmour said.

“I always tell the kids on the tour that we have real kids.” he said.

The Family Tour Thursday event will take place through Aug. 23 at the MetroParks Farms.

To learn more or preregister for the event, you can go to www.millcreekmetroparks.org.

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Working through the heat of Tuesday’s late morning and early afternoon, employees from the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation built a hockey rink at Mill Creek Park that players can use even during hot days like this.

It’s not ice hockey, but something known as Dek Hockey.

A busload of workers came to the Wick Recreation Area on Tuesday to build a Dek Hockey rink on the same site as the old ice rink that closed more than fifteen years ago.

Players can wear inline skates or just regular sneakers to hit a ball into a net.

The rink even has an electronic scoreboard.

Mill Creek Park officials will announce an opening date in the future.

The effort is part of the foundation’s quest to grow the sport of hockey at the grassroots level for both youth and adults.

So far the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation has built 13 outdoor, multi-use athletic facilities. Adding the rink in Mill Creek Park will increase that number to 14.

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