The streets of Starkville bustle with the sounds of traffic, construction workers piloting machinery and Mississippi State University sports fans cheering on their favorite players.
However, just about two miles southwest of downtown, McKee Park juxtaposes the city noise with the sounds of children playing, families splashing in a splash pad area and the clashing of competitors on nearby pickleball courts.
McKee Park, which officially reopened in August, was a part of a nearly year-long construction effort to revitalize the area that was previously dominated by baseball fields and aged park facilities into something more multi-use and modern.
The park, which was designed by Kimley-Horn, now features a 25,000 square foot playground, a 9,000 square foot splash pad, a 3,000 square foot pavilion, a dog park and a pedestrian walkway to balance out other Starkville park offerings in the city, associate engineer and project manager for the City of Starkville Chris Williams said. Those features compliment 12 existing heavily used pickleball courts.
The more than $7 million project was something made possible after most baseball activities moved to Cornerstone Park in 2023, Mayor Lynn Spruill said.
“It was more a matter of, what do we need to do in the south part (of the city), in order to fully round out our recreation offerings for our community to the south and complement the things to the north,” Spruill said.
The design focused on a community based style park to complement revamped pickleball courts added to the park area in March 2024, Williams said. The McKee project was a part of the city’s previous 10-year recreation plan from 2016 which included the construction of Cornerstone Park and improvements to J.L. King Park and Needmore Community Center. In a new 10-year plan launched in March, Sports Facilities Companies, an independent contractor that manages the city’s parks system, is taking public input, and inspecting current sites to develop a blueprint to be presented to the Board of Aldermen for future developments around the city.
Andrew Pollan, a senior from Starkville at Mississippi State University, said he enjoyed playing on the baseball fields when he was younger, but thought the newly completed park, and pickleball courts, have given the area a “new and fresh” look.
“I think the intentionality is really good, because I think this is a nice area for families to come if you want to play pickleball or if you want to bring smaller children to the park,” he said.
Emily Sesser said she has already brought her daughters, who are 7 and 13 years old, out to the park five times since it opened in August, even though the commute is a bit longer than to some of the other parks for them.
“I think it’s very well laid out,” she said. “It’s spread out so that the kids aren’t right on top of each other with the different activities … it’s even got the nice little walking path around the edges, so I can walk around and still be able to keep an eye on them while I’m getting some extra exercise.”
After officially cutting the ribbon for the facility in August, the area has seen an influx in families trying out the new facilities, Williams said.
“I absolutely think it’s wonderful,” Spruill said. “It is what we intended to have happen. To see the kind of support and the use of it tells me that that’s what the community needed.”
STORY BY BRADEN SIMMONS
PHOTOS BY DEANNA ROBINSON