Mayor Don Warren speaks to media during the park's grand re-opening ceremony. 

Two renovated tennis courts and a concrete retaining seat wall were officially unveiled Saturday morning at Bergfeld Park‘s grand reopening ceremony.

The reopening marks the completion of a $2.5 million dollar master plan that was planned in 2011 by now Deputy City Manager Stephanie Franklin and Mayor Don Warren.

The Tyler Parks and Rec Department divided the master plan in four phases.

A new playground was opened in 2015, an amphitheater in 2017, a splash pad in 2019 and lastly the new tennis courts and seat wall in 2022.

Saturday’s celebration at Bergfeld Park marks the completion of years of hard work by the city and its parks and rec department.

When Warren and Franklin presented the plan to former Mayor Martin J. Heines, he thought it would be difficult to raise the amount of money needed in order to complete the renovations. Warren said in a short period of time they managed to raise over $1 million privately.

“We want renovations here to last over 50 years and we’ve done that,” Warren said. “We didn’t do anything cheap, so this is going to be here for a long time.”

Warren said this project is of great significance for him, as it all started with a vision more than a decade ago. He also said renovating the park was something they did not only for the city but most importantly for its citizens.

“I have seen reunions, birthdays, weddings and different kinds of activities that bring joy to the public which is what parks are all about,” he said. “The renovation plans were made to make this park a happy place that could bring families together and that is exactly what it has become.”

During the ceremony, Warren took the time to recognize the efforts of two unsung heroes that have helped preserve the park in recent years.

The first one was a man named Sheldon, who Warren said is at the park every morning encouraging people to show up and take advantage of the facilities.

The second was a woman named Linda, who has not been seen at the park recently but used to walk around picking up trash without any compensation.

“One thing that we did is to dedicate the donor’s plaque to our park angel because that’s what she was,” he said. “She represented another diverse part of our community that really wanted to help.”

Since renovations began at Bergfeld Park in 2014, over $10 million has been spent in park renovations all over the city.

Warren said even though he feels proud of what he has done with parks during his time in office, the plan is to continue renovating all 28 parks in the city over the next five years.