Recreation
The city contains several recreational parks, including Highland Park, Bonita Lakes, and Okatibbee Lake. Highland Park contains picnic shelters, swimming pools, tennis courts, a baseball field, softball fields, and a playground, all open year round to visitors. Bonita Lakes is a city-owned, 3,300-acre (13 km2) park including three lakes. The park also includes the Long Creek Reservoir and Lakeview Municipal Golf Course, along with nature trails, a jogging and walking track, biking paths, horseback riding trails, pavilions, picnic facilities, boat ramps, paddle boats, concessions, and fishing. Along with the lakes, the Bonita Lakes area includes Bonita Lakes Mall, Bonita Lakes Crossing, and Bonita Lakes Plaza. Okatibbee Lake is a 7,150-acre (28.9 km2) establishment containing a 4,144-acre (16.77 km2) lake which offers boating, fishing, swimming, water skiing, picnicking, hunting, hiking and camping. Splashdown Country Water Park, a 25-room motel, and cabins are located on the lake.
Since 1992, Meridian has been a host of the State Games of Mississippi, a state-wide annual multi-sport event modeled after the Olympic Games. The organization is a member of the National Congress of State Games, which is affiliated with the U.S. Olympic Committee. In its first year 1,200 athletes competed in twelve sports, and since then over 70,000 athletes have participated in the Games. In 2009, more than 4500 athletes participated in 27 sports. All competitors in the games can compete in the Southeast Sports Festival while medalists may move up to the bi-annual State Games of America.
Originally the games were held in one weekend in June, but as more sports were added, the event was expanded to two weekends. Opening ceremonies always begin on the 3rd Friday of June in downtown Meridian. The games are held at several sports parks, including Northeast Park, Sammie Davidson Complex, and other various fields throughout the city. Northeast Park is an 85-acre (34 ha) park on Highway 39 that contains ten tennis courts, four softball fields, three soccer fields, an asphalt track, and a large picnic pavilion. The Sammie Davidson Sports Complex includes six tennis courts, four softball fields, and a half-mile track. Other sports fields include the Meridian Jaycee Soccer Complex, Sykes Park, and Phil Hardin Park.
There are also several golf courses in the city, including the aforementioned Lakeview Municipal Golf Course, an 18-hole course open to the public daily. Briarwood County Club, located on Highway 39 North, is a private club with golf, swimming, fishing, and dining facilities. Other golf courses serving the city include Northwood Country Club, Okatibbee Creek Golf Center, and Ponta Creek Golf Course.
Read more about this topic: Meridian, Mississippi, Culture
Famous quotes containing the word recreation:
“Playing snooker gives you firm hands and helps to build up character. It is the ideal recreation for dedicated nuns.”
—Archbishop Luigi Barito (b. 1922)
“Media mystifications should not obfuscate a simple, perceivable fact; Black teenage girls do not create poverty by having babies. Quite the contrary, they have babies at such a young age precisely because they are poor—because they do not have the opportunity to acquire an education, because meaningful, well-paying jobs and creative forms of recreation are not accessible to them ... because safe, effective forms of contraception are not available to them.”
—Angela Davis (b. 1944)