Gathering Place Voted Nation’s Best City Park
TOURISM LEADERS: Present at the Gathering Place announcement are, from left, Tulsa Reginal Tourism President Ray Hoyt, Gathering Place Founding Director Tony Moore and Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell. In April Moore officially began a new job in Dallas, where he serves as president and CEO of Trinity Park Conservancy.
Gathering Place is adding “Best City Park” to its list of national accolades in winning the USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice 2021 Best City Park award, making Tulsa’s riverfront park one of the most awarded parks of all time. On Friday, Feb. 19, USA Today announced Gathering Place as the unanimous champion of its 6.6 million reader’s choice.
Gathering Place triumphed over 19 other national contenders from metropolitan cities across the country. “Gathering Place being named the country’s Best City Park is monumental for not only the park, but equally for the City of Tulsa,” Founding Park Director Tony Moore said. “It was a very big deal for us to have won the 2019 Readers’ Choice as the number one new attraction in America, but this is equally significant, because this competition was against our industry peers. It is so gratifying to see a Tulsa attraction voted as the top city park in the nation.”
In addition to winning two of USA Today’s 10Best Awards, Best City Park 2021 and Best New Attraction 2019, Gathering Place has claimed eight national and international awards over the last two years, making Tulsa’s Riverfront Park arguably one of the most awarded parks of all time.
Gathering Place was chosen to be one of 20 nominees for the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards by a panel of relevant experts, which includes editors from USA Today 10Best.com and sources for both of these media and other Gannett properties, according to 10Best.com. Voting was open to the public for four weeks, allowing users to vote for one nominee per category daily.
About Gathering Place
A project of the George Kaiser Family Foundation, Gathering Place, with a first phase of 66.5 acres, will ultimately transform nearly 100 acres of Tulsa’s waterfront along the Arkansas River into a dynamic and active space when the project is completed.
A public-private partnership, GKFF and numerous corporate and community philanthropists gave ownership of the $465 million park to River Parks Authority who in turn signed a long-term operational and management lease back to an entity of the foundation to ensure the highest quality operation, maintenance and programming for the life of the park.
About USA Today
USA Today is a multi-platform news and information media company. According to the company which was founded in 1982, USA Today’s mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Through its unique visual storytelling, USA Today delivers high-quality and engaging content across print, digital, social and video platforms. An innovator of news and information, USA Today reflects the pulse of the nation and serves as the host of the American conversation — today, tomorrow and for decades to follow. USA Today, the nation’s number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of more than 1.6 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reach a combined 6.6 million readers daily. USA Today is a leader in mobile applications with more than 16 million downloads on mobile devices.
