Families gathered at Fellows Riverside Gardens on June 15 for the Family Fun Fridays event hosted at the gardens.

The program took place at the gardens’ Family Garden. The program had a weather theme to it, so the children participated in weather-related activities in addition to playing with the set already located at the park.

“It’s to get families out, enjoy the weather and get to the park,” said Nick Parish, a naturalist with the park. He, along with two other Mill Creek employees, ran the program.

The special activities for the program included a tornado in a jar and a cloud making station. The park placed out jars with a ball in them, so that children could shake them in circles to create a tornado effect. The children used shaving cream, water and food dye to make their cloud in a jar.

The Family Garden also has play areas for the children. They dug in a sandbox for gems buried in the sand, played in a small pool, rippled a children’s parachute and a small play set. The families could also enjoy the plants in the area and look at the bees stored in the garden.

The event happens weekly throughout the summer with a different theme each week. They also have organizations join them many weeks, such as Fantasy Face Painters at this event.

The program began on June 8 and will continue until Aug. 24. Each event runs from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. and families can just drop in to visit.

Brian Tolnar had two goals in mind when he moved back to the Mahoning Valley. He also had a pretty good idea of how to reach those goals and put a plan in place.

In bringing the Mahoning Valley Hospital Foundation American Junior Golf Association All-Star Tournament to Mill Creek Golf Course, he found a way to accomplish those goals.

This week, the Mahoning Valley Hospital Foundation AJGA All-Star Tournament will showcase the best golfers between the ages of 12 and 15 at Mill Creek Golf Course.

“I’m super excited,” said Tolnar, Mill Creek’s PGA Director of Golf. “It took a year for us to land this event for Youngstown. I had the pleasure of working in Rochester and they held one of these events. When I moved back here, they were first people I contacted.

“[The AJGA] wanted to be in the Cleveland-Pittsburgh market,” Tolnar said. “We were able to fulfill that.

“We had two goals. Number one, we wanted to impact the community. Number two, we wanted to showcase Mill Creek Metroparks. This is a great way to accomplish both.”

The tournament opens with a 100-player qualifier beginning today at 8 a.m. with a select number of players earning their way into the field. That number is yet to be determined.

There will be a practice round on Monday between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. leading into a Junior-Am charity tournament beginning at 1:30 p.m. Three local amateurs will be paired with a top-15 player in the world for the event.

“The girls winner will be about 5- or 6-under,” Tolnar said. “The boys winner will be between 7- and 10-under. They’ll shoot good numbers and the course won’t play easy, by any means.

“If we have half of the Big Ten [Conference] here checking out 12-to 15-years-olds, it’s pretty big. It’s pretty big if we’re getting Oklahoma State, UCLA, Texas to fly in. These kids can hit the ball a mile. They chip and putt like wizards. They’re really fun to watch.”

The field will include golfers from all over the United States and the world.

“There are six Junior All-Star events,” Tolnar said. “They qualify on points. We’re one of six hosting cities. We have a number of kids in from countries outside the United States and states outside of Ohio. Last year, we had kids from 17 countries and 42 states.”

The first round will begin Tuesday at 7 a.m. with pairings being released Monday evening. The field will include 136 players. Round 2 will begin Wednesday at 7 a.m.

“Historically, these events have 96 players,” Tolnar said. “In this area, we have the largest wait list with 70-plus kids [who would like to play in the event]. They expanded the field to 136 players.”

After the first two rounds, the field will be paired down to the top 70 scores and ties for the final round, which will run Thursday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. The awards ceremony will follow at 2:30 p.m.

Spectators are welcome throughout the event.

The tournament will impact the Mahoning Valley in a big way, as it did during its first two years in existence. The impact will continue for a minimum of three more years.

“The first two years, this event brought about $755,000 in financial impact to the Mahoning Valley,” Tolnar said. “This year, it’s projected to be about $58,000 more than that. I’m proud of the impact we’re able to have on the community.

“This year, Mike Senchak, CEO of the Mahoning Valley Hospital Foundation, ponied up $110,000 to sponsor the event and signed a four-year deal. About $100,000 will go to the event and about $10,000 will be used for course beautification. This keeps the money in the area. We’re happy to have him here. He ensures this event stays in the area for the next three years.”

The area won’t be the only benefactor of the tournament.

“The AJGA has typically donated about $10,000 to be split between the ACE Grant and the Mill Creek Metroparks Foundation,” Tolnar said. “This year, they’ve told us it will be north of $15,000.”

Tim Beeghly’s eyes filled with tears as he recalled his late mother’s love for one of Mill Creek MetroParks’ most revered and attractive areas.

“It brought so much peace and happiness to her life. She never dreamed it would be named after her,” the Charlottesville, Va., man said about his mother, Joanne Beeghly, and her longtime relationship with the rose garden section of Fellows Riverside Gardens near downtown.

That section of the botanical gardens was renamed the Joanne F. Beeghly Rose Garden during a dedication ceremony Monday morning in her honor.

An emotional Tim Beeghly, along with a few dozen other family members and guests, attended the gathering next to a plaque bearing her name and honoring his mother, who died in June 2017 at age 92.

The Beeghly family has donated money to the park for a variety of garden and other projects over several decades, noted Andrew Pratt, Mill Creek MetroParks’ gardens director. Monday’s special dedication will allow the rose gardens “to remain a jewel in perpetuity,” he said.

At its peak, more than 1,000 colorful roses bloom in that area, which was established more than 50 years ago, Pratt said.

Tim Beeghly recalled that his mother was active in the Garden Club of Youngstown for about 20 years, and family members often visited Mill Creek MetroParks for holiday picnics, to play baseball and for a host of other reasons.

“We loved the park. It was always a big treat for us,” he said. “So we jumped at the chance to do something like this for our mom.”

Also on hand was Beeghly’s daughter, Summerlyn Beeghly of Charlottesville, who said she derives tremendous comfort in knowing that a part of her grandmother’s legacy will live on because the rose garden bearing her name will await her whenever she visits the Mahoning Valley.

“This garden made my grandmother more happy than anything else,” Beeghly said. “This defines how I would like to remember her.”

A $215,300 endowment fund made the rose garden dedication possible, said Chris Litton, the MetroParks’ development director. A portion of those funds will go toward caring for and maintaining the gardens, said Litton, who added that the project also coincided with several other park endowment efforts.

Even in her later years, Joanne Beeghly continued to cherish and embrace Mill Creek MetroParks’ offerings and to spend time there, Tim Beeghly remembered.

“She used to glow at the idea of someone putting her in the car and taking her to the park,” he said. “This gives all of us a way to celebrate our mother.”

Making additional remarks was Aaron Young, the park’s executive director, who unveiled the plaque.