We collaborated with the Town of Rutherfordton and The Rutherford County Tourism Development Authority to reimagine Kiwanis park as a gathering point for families and visitors in Rutherford County, bringing continuity to existing trail infrastructure, and helping activate downtown.
Park Master Plan
Now fully constructed, the park features a natural playground, entrance plaza and pavilion, dog park, council ring, picnic facilities, and creek play area. Accessed from the park, The Purple Martin Greenway now provides pedestrian and bicycle connectivity to Main Street in Rutherfordton, enhancing walkability and attracting private investment to the downtown area.
Public Engagement
In addition to input from town and county leaders, the planning process included a project committee, public survey, public meetings, and publicity videos.
Destination by Design led the master planning effort for Kiwanis Park in downtown Rutherfordton, collaborating with the Town of Rutherfordton and the Rutherford County Tourism Development Authority to reimagine it as a gathering point for families and visitors. Now fully constructed, the park features a natural playground, entrance plaza and pavilion, dog park, council ring, picnic facilities, and a creek play area, situated along the Purple Martin Greenway and the planned Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail.
In North Carolina, recreation master planning and downtown revitalization work especially well together when a park can double as a greenway connection point. Kiwanis Park reflects that pairing directly, with the Purple Martin Greenway now providing pedestrian and bicycle connectivity from the park to Main Street in Rutherfordton, enhancing walkability and attracting private investment to the downtown area.
A well-designed park can do double duty as both a family destination and an economic driver for a small town’s downtown. Kiwanis Park was built around that principle, bringing continuity to existing trail infrastructure while helping activate downtown Rutherfordton, a vision shaped through a project committee, public survey, public meetings, and publicity videos to ensure the design reflected what residents wanted.
Recreation master planning is the process of designing a public park’s layout and amenities to serve a range of user groups while connecting it to a broader trail and downtown network. For Kiwanis Park, that meant park planning and design paired with extensive public engagement, resulting in a fully constructed park that links Rutherfordton’s greenway system directly to its Main Street commercial district.
Rutherfordton sits in Rutherford County in the foothills of western North Carolina, with Kiwanis Park located directly in its downtown core along the Purple Martin Greenway. That central location, combined with the planned Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail passing nearby, positions the park as a key link between Rutherfordton’s outdoor recreation assets and its Main Street business district.
