Fowler Park Plans

Fowler Park, near Castleberry Road on Highway 9, was scheduled to open this month.  Rain and delays have pushed the opening back, but it is now on track to open in February.  The new 85 acre park, comparable in size to Central Park (the one in Forsyth County, not Manhattan), will add parking within walking access of the Big Creek Greenway.  The path to the Greenway will not open immediately with the park, as construction on it started later.

The park also features quite a few amenities, including baseball, softball, football, soccer and lacrosse fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, walking trails, a track, pavilions, a large playground and five-acre passive area.  If that wasn’t enough, the park will also include a skate park designed by Wally Hollyday.

We will keep you posted on when exactly the park opens, as well as when the trail head will open allowing access to the Big Creek Greenway.

Additional Resources:

• Forsyth County Fowler Park Website
• Forsyth News Article

Unfortunately, even with sun and moderate temperatures forecast, the flooding will likely close the Greenway for the weekend.  Please check the Alpharetta website for the status of the Greenway and call the Greenway Status Hotline (770.886.2851 extension 5) for the Forsyth Greenway before visiting the trails.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

I’m a couple weeks behind in updating the site, but as of December 4th, 2009, phase 1 of the Forsyth Big Creek Greenway is open. This 4 mile segment of the trail stretching from McFarland Parkway to Highway 9 brings the total length of the trail to 6.7 miles in Forsyth County. This is nearly half the planned length of 15 miles when all sections are completed.  Plenty of space for bikers, runners, joggers, and walkers alike.

I’ve put up some pictures of the ribbon cutting ceremony that my in-laws were nice enough to take (thanks Judy!). I was unfortunately unable to attend due to my work schedule. Even with heavy rains earlier in the week that caused flooding and the chilly weather, the ceremony continued. The ribbon cutting was over shortly after 10am, and the trail opened with a motorized tour of the new segment for those who were interested.

Forsyth Big Creek Greenway Phase 1

The opening of the Forsyth Big Creek Greenway Phase 1 from Highway 9 to McFarland Parkway has been pushed back due to heavy rains in the area.  The new official trail opening will be on Friday December 4th at 10:30am.  There will be a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of the new 4 mile section of the greenway.

Heavy rains in the area have pushed Big Creek to near flood stage.  With additional heavy rain expected in the area, it will likely go over the minor flood stage of 7 feet at Kimball Bridge.  At the time of this article it was already at 6.7 feet.  Use caution visiting the trails when water levels begin to reach minor flood stage.

We’ll keep you up to date as we find out more about the opening of the trail Friday, including where the ribbon cutting will take place and if the ceremony gets pushed back due to the weather again.

Big Creek Greenway Phase 2 and 3 Open

On September 2nd, 2009 the newly completed phases 2 and 3 of the Big Creek Greenway in Forsyth County were opened to the public.  Extending from Bethelview Rd (Hwy 141) through Majors Rd to Atlanta Hwy (Hwy 9), the greenway will extend all the way to McFarland Pkwy when completed.

Though no good maps are available online you can find the county’s map of phase 2 and 3 on our maps page.  It will be updated when a cleaner map is released.

Phase 1 is expected to be completed sometime in October, 2009.

Article on ForsythNews.com

Useful Links:

• Forsyth County Governement page on The Big Creek Greenway
• Maps of the Greenway