The 66.5 acres of the huge Gathering Place is only the first phase of a planned 100 acres.
The Gathering Place, which opened September 8th, aims to serve all Tulsans. "The park has a five-acre adventure playground for children aged two through 12, with seven different realms targeted for different age groups," Nicole Javorsky writes for City Lab. The park also emphasizes accessibility with numerous points of entrance for people who use wheelchairs or need ramps. "The park also has a sensory garden with a giant spinning boulder, and amplified voice tools that encourage kids to ask questions about the world around them," Javorsky writes.
These attractions are only part of the 66-acre park, which is intended to grow to 100 acres. The privately funded mega-park will also include a skate park, a pond and basketball, volleyball, street hockey, and street soccer courts. The $465 million in funding came fromThe George Kaiser Family Foundation and a few other foundations and businesses. It is the largest donation to a from a private entity to a public park in U.S. history.
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