Mayor: Riverton park 'turned out far better than my expectations'


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RIVERTON, Utah — It’s only been open for two weeks, but Riverton’s new city park is a hit with many people.

"We've actually been, over the last couple of weeks, every day,” said Asher Dunn, visiting with her son and daughter.

Seeing children splash around in the water park and laugh in the playground is part of what summer is supposed to be about.

"There's a lot of good things going on here,” said Tracy Thaxton, who brought his grandkids to the new park. "We've been down here with them a couple of times, and every time we come down here, kids are playing in the playground."

There's also a skate park; pickle ball, tennis and basketball courts; pavilions; and a field big enough to do almost anything.

However, for as much fun as people are having here now, the park didn’t always bring smiles.

Building this new park meant tearing down the old one.

Thaxton was a Riverton City Council member who voted to do it.

"Took a lot of heat for that, but I’m glad now, looking back, we did what we did,” said Thaxton.

He was voted out of office in the next election and thinks a big part of his defeat was because he voted for the new park.

Baseball fields used for decades had to be taken away for the new park, and a memorial honoring the Sons and Daughters of Utah Pioneers was removed to make room for construction.

There were some residents who were upset about those decisions.

"I feel bad about this. We still have people who are hurt, who had visions of their own and had memories of their own, and so I hope they will heal because we had no intentions of hurting them,” said Riverton Mayor Bill Applegarth.

Applegarth says many residents who were originally opposed to the park have told him, after visiting the new park, they were sorry.

“That’s nice to hear. We really wanted to do what was best for our residents. It has turned out far better than my expectations,” said Applegarth. “This is a great park for our city.”

The park may have cost Thaxton his political career, but when he sees children playing and having fun here, he says it was worth it.

"It was. Absolutely. To me it was,” said Thaxton.

Contributing: Stuart Johnson

Stuart Johnson/KSL-TV

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