Waters Park in North Hill and Karona Park in the Merriman Valley are the winners of the 2025 Akron Parks Challenge — each will each receive $150,000 from the City of Akron to fund capital improvements, along with community engagement and design support from the Akron Parks Collaborative.
Both parks are the first chosen in their respective wards, Ward 2 and Ward 8, and have applied multiple times in the past, according to a press release from the City of Akron.
“Both [winners] have active groups focused on improving their park to provide a hub for the neighborhood to build community and vibrancy,” said Bridget Ambrisco, executive director of the Akron Parks Collaborative.
“The Akron Parks Challenge process puts community engagement at the beginning of the process,” said Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, “so that neighborhood residents themselves decide how to use their own park and also provide input on how they want it to look and feel.”
Waters Park in North Hill
Frank Hyde Waters willed the property where the park is located to the city in 1933. He required in his bequest that it be transformed into a tuberculosis clinic (his daughter died in 1923 from the disease) or a public playground.
Because the city already had the Springfield Lake Sanitorium and a tuberculosis clinic on Locust Street, mayor-elect I.S. Myers decided a playground was the better choice.
The Waters’ house on the property was eventually remodeled into a community center. A memorial, surrounded by a flower garden, was erected in memory of the family. It cost $1,252, or about $27,500 in today’s dollars; it is still standing.
On Sept. 15, 1937, Waters Park was officially dedicated. The Works Progress Administration provided $17,000 for the construction while the city paid $3,000.
“This investment helps us preserve the legacy of Frank Waters while creating new opportunities for recreation, connection, and celebration for residents of all ages. By reimagining this historic park, we’re not only revitalizing public space — we’re strengthening community pride, belonging, and the stories that built this neighborhood,” said Justin Chenault, executive director of the North Hill Community Development Corporation, in the release.
The park serves the diverse and multi-cultural neighborhood in North Hill that is home to Akron’s largest immigrant community.
The applicants included North Hill CDC, North Hill Community House, Rooted in Christ Ministry, Asia Inc., Akron Cooperative Farms, North Hill Library, IN-Akron, Akron Inner City Soccer, Rubber City Football Club, Catac Theater and several residents.
The park has active groups that play pickleball and shuffleboard — their members will be an instrumental part of the engagement and planning process, according to the release. Initial ideas include adding a playground, a street soccer area and seating and spaces for gatherings.
Karona Park in the Merriman Valley
Karona Park is located in Parkway Estates, a small residential community accessible from North Portage Path just after it crosses Sand Run Parkway heading north. Replacing the park’s playground, which is well past its useful life, and attending to the tennis court that was last improved in 2002 are at the top of the applicants’ wish list.
The application was driven by residents and their desire to have a safe community space, the press release said.
“Neighbors loving one another is what will change the world for the better. We are so grateful to have a renewed safe place in our neighborhood to continue to do life together,” said resident and organizer Carolyn George.
When the APC board visited the park to talk to the applicants, it appeared the entire neighborhood turned out to support the application or just to find out what was going on.
About the Parks Challenge
The seventh installment of the Akron Parks Challenge, which launched in February, invited residents to pitch their vision for how to improve their favorite Akron park by collaborating with their neighbors. The goal is to create active and vibrant public spaces.
Submissions were reviewed by the Akron Parks Collaborative and were judged based on measures of community engagement and equity.
The City of Akron and the Akron Parks Collaborative will begin working with the two core teams for each park to develop a plan for community engagement activities over the next several months. These include public meetings, events, surveys and discussion with neighborhood stakeholders.
Capital improvements designed by the neighborhoods could begin in a year but typically take two years to be completed.
For more information on Akron’s Park Challenge, please visit akronparks.org.
Editor’s note: Charlotte Gintert contributed to this reporting.
