USA TODAY readers rank Louisville's Waterfront Park among nation's best riverwalks
Waterfront Park is one of Louisville's most popular and well-known gathering spots. And its reputation is growing around the country.
The park that connects downtown Louisville with Butchertown and neighborhoods further east along the Ohio River ranked No. 3 in USA TODAY's 10Best 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards, released late last week. Only the Detroit International RiverWalk (No. 1) and the Tampa Riverwalk (No. 2) ranked ahead of Waterfront Park.
Deborah Bilitski, the park's president and executive director, said Waterfront Park officials were "honored" by the recognition but added "the entire community deserves the credit."
“For the past 30 years, this community has worked diligently together to transform our waterfront from an inaccessible eyesore into a world-class park now frequently recognized as one of the best in the nation," she said in a release. "We are grateful for the community’s ongoing support and we appreciate the opportunity to share our waterfront’s success story with the rest of the country.”
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A paragraph listed alongside Waterfront Park's listing cited its "picnic areas, playgrounds, boat launches and numerous public art installations" as key reasons why voters had ranked it so highly.
A nonprofit public park with 85 acres of green space, developers broke ground on Waterfront Park in 1992 and built it on top of what had been an industrial scrapyard. Today, it welcomes an estimated 2.2 visitors per year and is the site of popular events like arts fairs and WFPK's Waterfront Wednesday concert series. The park along River Road is open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.
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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Waterfront Park named among best riverwalks in US
