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Four years ago, a host of parks enthusiasts descended on Wellston. The National Recreation and Park Association was holding its annual conference in St. Louis, and with it came the organization’s Parks Build Community project — an initiative that deploys the association’s resources and corporate donations in service of building a new park or renovating an existing one to demonstrate the “transformative value of parks and recreation.”

The result was Trojan Park, a new one-acre park located on the St. Vincent Greenway. The park was truly a collaborative effort. Great Rivers Greenway secured and donated the land, and also worked to gather community input with the nonprofit Beyond Housing. The Municipal Park Grant Commission of St. Louis County provided $315,000 in funding, and St. Louis County and Wellston committed to maintaining it. Then the National Recreation and Park Association and its partners built the park from scratch — complete with two top-notch playgrounds, a basketball court and plenty of places for sitting or picnicking.

The park has quickly become a community favorite, and it’s not just Wellston residents who approve. The Urban Land Institute named Trojan Park one of two winners of this year’sUrban Open Space Award, which honors “outstanding examples of vibrant public open spaces that have been instrumental in promoting healthy, sustainable, and equitable outcomes in communities.”

Nancy Winkelmann | Provided By Great Rivers Greenway

On Friday’s St. Louis on the Air, Chip Crawford, managing director of the Lamar Johnson Collaborative, discussed the park’s inception — and also explained just how big a deal its Urban Open Space Award is.

“It’s hard to even imagine that this little park would win an award like this,” he said. “First off, it’s international. There were 50 to 60 submittals all the way from Moscow to Hong Kong, so it’s a huge geographic reach of parks you’re competing with. Also it’s a lot of super-funded parks, parks that might be hundreds of millions of dollars. And this one was $2 million. It’s really fighting over its weight. And I couldn’t be more proud and happy for the people of Wellston and everyone who spent time and contributed to the outcome here.”

As part of the conversation with Crawford, we also heard from Trojan Park patrons and discussed listeners’ go-to parks, as well as their choices for hidden gems throughout the metro area.

As Crawford explained, the region has no shortage of excellent parks. In fact, the Trust for Public Land ranks St. Louis 13th in the nation for its parks, with a score that assesses acreage, investment, amenities and access. According to the Trust for Public Land’s St. Louis park score, 98% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park.

“We’re really fortunate,” he said. “We’re actually in a pretty good place. I think the quality and character of each of the parks in each of the neighborhoods varies a little bit and could use some work. But overall, we’re in pretty good shape that way. And [Great Rivers Greenway] connecting these parks with greenways adds a whole other kind of experience.”