Gathering Place named “Best City Park” in America
Gathering Place triumphed over nineteen other national contenders from metropolitan cities across the country. “Gathering Place being named the country’s Best City Park is monumental for not only the Park, but equally for the city of Tulsa,” Executive Park Director Tony Moore said. “It was a very big deal for us to have won the 2019 Readers’ Choice as the number one new attraction in America, but this is equally significant, because this competition was against our industry peers. It is so gratifying to see a Tulsa attraction voted as the top city park in the nation.”
Among those present for the big announcement was Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell, known as one of the state’s greatest public advocates.
“It’s a remarkable accomplishment all the awards that the Gathering Place has won, and to be named the best city park in America speaks for itself,” Pinnell told La Semana, calling the award
“a great recruitment tool for the state of Oklahoma, that shows the diversity that we have in Tulsa and in Oklahoma.”
Pinnell said he is glad that the state’s Hispanic and Latinx population is able to enjoy the park and participate in its growth. “Gathering Place is a park for everyone all nationalities,” Pinnell said, adding that the rich cultural diversity found in Oklahoma makes it easy to market the state as a place everyone is welcome to visit.
In addition to winning two of USA Today’s 10Best Awards, Best City Park 2021 and Best New Attraction 2019, Gathering Place has claimed eight national and international awards over the last two years, making Tulsa’s Riverfront Park arguably one of the most awarded parks of all time. For a full list of the Park’s awards, visit https://www.gatheringplace.org/a ward-winning- park. Gathering Place was chosen to be one of twenty nominees for the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards by a panel of relevant experts, which includes editors from USA Today 10Best.com and sources for both of these media and other Gannett properties, according to 10Best.com. Voting was open to the public for four weeks, allowing users to vote for one nominee per category daily. (La Semana contributed to this article)