Prescott Valley Strives to Engage Residents During Challenging Circumstances

by Kell Palguta, Mayor, Town of Prescott Valley
Greetings everyone, from Prescott Valley. I hope this article finds you and your family safe and healthy. Moving into the second half of 2020, the word of the year so far most certainly is COVID. The word may elicit a wide range of thoughts and comments, but one thing this pandemic has done is make all of us stop and appreciate all of the important and interesting outdoor spaces we may previously have taken for granted.
As the summer progresses, it has become clear people are safer outside, where it is easier to social distance. That makes it a great time to visit one of the Town of Prescott Valley’s 28 community parks or other outdoor spaces.
Our largest park, Mountain Valley, sits on 69 acres of land and is home to synthetic turf soccer and t-ball fields, the Mountain Valley Splash Aquatic Center, a skate park and a newly renovated dog park. Its ramadas, pavilions and fields are available for rental.
Another local favorite is Fain Park, which boasts a 2-acre lake frequently stocked with fish. The former Urban Forest on the lower level of Mountain Valley Park, now named Yavapai Lakes, includes two small stocked lakes and a popular walking trail.
One of our more recent parks, Bob Edwards Park, doubles as a stormwater basin. It occasionally completely fills during monsoon storms, releasing the water more slowly and mitigating flood damage downstream. This design was a perfect way to create recreational space from an otherwise unusable parcel of land. During winter snowstorms, this park offers the best sledding in town.
The newest park in Town is the Santa Fe Station Park off Glassford Hill Road. It’s complete with pickleball courts to provide more space for this rapidly growing sport. The park also has a sports field and an inclusive playground that allows children and adults of all abilities to play together.
Along with our parks, other outdoors opportunities in Prescott Valley that allow for social distancing include walking and biking on our huge network of multiuse pathways that run south to north from Highway 69 to Highway 89A, and west from the Lynx Lake Estates area to the Robert Road area. The Iron King, Glassford Hill Summit and Cavalry (Fain Park) Trails offer challenging hikes.
It is amazing to have such a variety of outdoor options here in Prescott Valley, and it offers our residents and visitors a chance to find their favorite outdoor piece of nature.
With COVID having a ripple effect through all of our communities and changing the dynamics in regard to large outdoor events, we all need to try and balance outdoor enjoyment and quality family time with available opportunities. The Findlay Toyota Center has been host to drive-in concert experiences with country music stars Garth Brooks and Blake Shelton, with more to come. This was an opportunity for our citizens to attend a live show broadcast on a large LED screen while safely distancing from others.
The Town of Prescott Valley will continue to be creative in working to engage and entertain our residents.
Despite these challenges, the Town of Prescott Valley was able to put forth a fantastic fireworks display to celebrate the 4th of July. Prescott Valley is unique in that 80% of our residents can see the fireworks from their backyard, driveway or from a variety of open areas throughout the community. This, and the safety of the firing location at Mountain Valley Park, allowed the Town to safely put on the largest fireworks display in Northern Arizona.
Be sure to check out the Town of Prescott Valley website often and look for the events calendar at www.pvaz.net. We hope to see you in our community soon.