When people gather in Nisbet Park next spring to enjoy the inaugural concert at the new amphitheater, they’ll quickly realize one great thing about Nisbet’s $2 million renovation. Regardless of where they are on the 2.8-acre grounds, they’ll be able to see and hear the performance, a result of reorienting the new $1.275 million stage to face the entire park. And that only tops the list of amenities that patrons are going to love once the work is fully completed next year.
Loveland City Manager Dave Kennedy can’t help smiling when he ticks them off: An expanded playground with additional features (including the replacement of the mulch/chip base with astroturf). New lighted walkways connecting all areas, and a section that encircles the park and connects to the main trail. A totally rebuilt gazebo. Three sleek, new dining areas on paver bases. Two adult swing stations that face the Little Miami River (much like those in Smale Park on Cincinnati’s riverfront). A new Gateway Entrance on Karl Brown Way. Totally refurbished restrooms. That’s quite a list, and an even bigger accomplishment.
“The bathrooms in the park were one of the first complaints I heard about when I became mayor in 2017,” Kathy Bailey says. They were showing the wear and tear of their 36 years, and that was a concern. The restrooms, located right next to the trail just south of the O’Bannon Creek bridge, are an important amenity for bikers and hikers when they reach historic Loveland.
According to Jim Grethel, president of the Loveland Museum Center and town historian, Nisbet Park was previously the site of small houses occupied by railroad workers in the early and mid-20th century. “When I was a boy riding my bike through downtown in the 1970s, there were just remnants of those houses left,” Jim remembers. “That part of town had taken a beating over the years because of flooding.”
Once the Caesar’s Creek Lake project was completed in the late 1970s to control flooding in the Little Miami River watershed, the land’s potential attracted the attention of the Loveland Kiwanis and Jr. Women’s Clubs. They began raising money later that decade to buy the land and turn it into a park.
Heading that effort was C. Roger Nisbet, a business leader known for his generosity in giving back to the community. The park opened in 1981 and was named for Roger, who died 10 years later at age 91.
Sadly, as the 21-century reached its second decade, the park had fallen behind as the renaissance of historic downtown bloomed around it. It would take a few more years for its fortunes to change, but between 2018 and 2022, with Dave Kennedy and Mayor Bailey at the helm of local government, Loveland developed four master plans to continue its transformation. One of them, dated July 2021, was the reimagining and renovating of Nisbet Park.
The first formidable challenge was surveying the public as to what they’d like to see in the park, given that COVID had shut down most public gatherings. “It helped that the park was outside, and I remember a Parks and Recreation committee holding more than one meeting where we solicited community input,” Mayor Bailey recalls. Perhaps the most important method for learning what the public wanted, however, came from a group of Loveland High Schoolers, who developed a QR code.
“The QR code was placed all around the park so people could take a survey and be specific about that particular part of Nisbet, and what they would like to see there,” Dave says. “That was such an important piece of it.”
The opinions collected revealed several common themes: The amphitheater needed a major update, walkability within the park needed improving, and the children’s play areas could use a refresh. Handicapped accessibility, better bathrooms and lighting throughout were also top concerns. All the ideas were turned over to KZF Design of Cincinnati, who put together a plan.
City staff immediately went to work identifying funding sources. In addition to money from the state and federal government, every component in the “new” Nisbet has been the beneficiary of a grant. “Our city manager is amazing at writing grants and getting awarded them,” Mayor Bailey says. “We’ve tried to be as cost effective as possible without going to residents to ask for money, spending as little as possible from our general fund.”
The amphitheater should be finished by the end of November, a fitting present to cap off Loveland’s 150th anniversary year. “Programming will start in the spring. We’re working on bigger names,” Dave says, adding that concerts will move from Sunday to early Saturday evenings.
“With DORA, people are allowed to bring food and drinks, including alcohol, into the park,” Dave explains. “I can see people getting carryout from one of the nearby restaurants and then heading to a concert in the park.”
Still to come, the new Gateway Entrance, additional work on the playscape, lighting, landscaping, restroom updates, and a sculpture near the main entrance.
Dave has high hopes for the park’s impact. “Once we follow through on all the plans, Nisbet Park is going to be the premier stop along the entire bike trail.”
Its potential as a prime gathering place for everyone, residents and visitors alike, will finally blossom to match its surroundings.
lovinlifeloveland.com/places/nisbet-park/ | 126 Karl Brown Way, Loveland