Culture and Recreation

One Year, 65 Rockville Parks

Public Information Office

January 27, 2017
3:45 pm

Melissa and Tony Downs, and daughters Madelyn and Alyson, pictured at “Dinosaur Park” — also known as Lone Oak Park — successfully met their goal of visiting each of the City of Rockville’s 65 parks during 2016.

When it comes to love for Rockville’s parks and open spaces, it’s hard to top the Downs family.

Melissa and Tony Downs, and daughters Madelyn and Alyson, made it their mission in 2016 to visit each one of the city’s 65 parks.

To help track their adventures, Melissa Downs developed a spreadsheet of all of the parks and amenities.

When the family visited, she took a family photo by each Park sign and posted it to her Facebook page, where her friends and family were following their journey.

Madelyn and Alyson had a different way of keeping track, naming each park after the theme of the playground equipment. For example, “Dinosaur Park” was Lone Oak Park, and the King Farm Park was “Hippo Park.”

The family was recently invited to join the Rockville Recreation and Parks department for its annual New Year’s breakfast, where they were recognized for their yearlong adventure.

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