CHINA GROVE — The town of China Grove hosted the “grand reopening” of the Westhaven Park on Saturday, opening the small park that had been closed to the community after the playground was deemed unsafe in September of 2023.

“We are trying to create spaces in town that make people want to be here and stay in China Grove and parks are a big part of it. You can have all the public safety, you can have nice schools, you can have the vibrant downtown, but if you don’t have places for people to gather and just be a part of something, it’s not a totally balanced community,” said Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Starnes.

The park itself is a small one, tucked into a residential neighborhood off of China Grove’s North Main Street, and consists of a playground and several picnic tables.

“When we had to pull it out for safety reasons, I felt like we owed it to the neighborhood to bring something back and make sure that it stays with them. We heard from a lot of residents when we did pull it out about how much they missed it. It’s something they could walk to, it’s quiet, it’s a small park and it’s safe for kids of all ages, so it was really important to me,” said Parks and Recreation Director Jill Sellers.

That importance was shown on Saturday, as around three dozen people turned out to watch Starnes cut the ribbon and officially reopen the park to the public.

“When you look around, you see a lot of different people here in this community. You’ve got older folks, younger folks, little kids,” said Starnes. “Parks create open spaces for people to gather. It doesn’t matter what backgrounds we come from, our socioeconomic classes, our cultural differences. Parks bring people together.”

Starnes also pointed to the grand opening as being part of the town’s larger plans to expand its outdoor spaces through expanding trails and the park system.

“As we continue to build out the park system and trails and things like that, you’ve got the larger Community (Memorial) Park over at the (China Grove Community Center) with smaller neighborhood parks throughout. It just gives everybody a place to come and gather and get outside,” said Starnes. “It’s challenging to get people outside now, but if you give people something to do, they’ll go outside.”