The city bought two homes in the 1800 block of Westminster Place and turned the west end of the block into a cul-de-sac. Where those homes stood, there are now sidewalk trails, benches, young trees, a water feature, and playground equipment designed to look like it grew out of the ground. Westminster Park is the newest public green space in Nichols Hills. It is also the first public park the city has ever had in Ward 3.
A mile or so of Grand Boulevard away, Redbud Park at Grand and Sherwood Lane picked up a new pond, a pedestrian bridge, a fountain, and dozens of new trees in the same stretch of months. Those two projects together cost $3.64 million. Who paid for each one, and who keeps them up, explains how the rest of the city's 37 parks work too.
Who Pays for What, Park by Park
OKC Friday reported in May that the city of Nichols Hills mows and waters the grass in its parks. Nichols Hills Parks, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed in 1983, handles "everything" else: landscaping, sidewalks, playground maintenance, and other improvements. Every park has its own volunteer chair, and that chair is responsible for raising money for that one park. The organization has a 28-member board.
So the condition of any given park depends on two things: the city's baseline care, and whatever its chair and its neighbors decide to fund. The three parks that changed most in the past year show three different ways that split plays out.
| Park | Location | Reported cost | Who funded it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westminster Park | 1800 block of Westminster Place | $1.4 million | City of Nichols Hills |
| Redbud Park | Grand Blvd and Sherwood Lane | $2.24 million | $500,000 lead gift, over $1.1 million in resident donations, plus city funds |
| Evangeline Park | Avondale and Huntington | Not reported | A resident-led campaign and several donations |
Westminster Park Is the One the City Built Itself
Of the three, Westminster is the exception. City Manager Shane Pate described it to OKC Friday as "a city funded $1.4 million construction project involving the purchase of two residential homes and turning the west end of the block into a cul-de-sac." Mayor Steven Goetzinger championed the project, and according to the same report, the city had a stated goal of putting a park in Ward 3 for many years.
Construction took less than a year. Planning and buying the land had been underway since 2023. Landscape architect Scott Howard designed it, and Rudy Construction served as general contractor. For Ward 3, the change is easy to measure. Families there now have a playground and a water feature within their own ward, which they had never had before.
Redbud Park Is What a Capital Campaign Looks Like
Redbud Park followed the more typical Nichols Hills model, at a larger scale than usual. The $2.24 million redesign began with a $500,000 lead gift from Robert and Karen Browne. A capital campaign co-chaired by Nancy Herzel and Jamie Farha did the rest. "In total, residents donated over $1.1 million to the project," Pate told OKC Friday, and the city contributed funds as well.
The finished park has a fountain, a new pond, a pedestrian bridge, a donor plaza wall, and dozens of new trees. Scott Howard designed this one too, and GreenShade Trees LLC was the general contractor.
The design updates a master plan for Grand Boulevard Park drawn up in 2008 by the Nichols Hills Grand Boulevard Park Committee, which Peter Hoffman and Pete Everest co-chaired. Eighteen years after that plan was drawn up, a lead gift and a resident campaign paid for this part of it. Under the volunteer-chair system, a park changes as fast as its neighbors can raise the money.
Evangeline Park Shows How Far One Neighbor Can Take It
The smallest of the three projects shows the most personal version of the model. Evangeline Park, at the corner of Avondale and Huntington, was refreshed in late 2025 through a campaign led by resident Nancy Ellis, who secured several donations. Ellis also bought the outdoor sculpture that now anchors the park, OKC Friday reported in December.
John Kennedy was another key contributor. The park is named for his mother. "She would love seeing this park," he told the paper. A ceremony recognized the donors. Ellis described the result in the same article: "I love seeing how residents are enjoying the park—like all the kids on scooters, and the folks relaxing on the benches."
A Fall Walk Through All Three Kinds of Park
Since Westminster opened and Redbud reopened, a late-October afternoon can cover the city's newest public park, its biggest donor-funded rebuild, and its most personal refresh. Here is one way to string them together, with a couple of extra stops that show the same system at work.
- Westminster Park, 1800 block of Westminster Place. Start at the cul-de-sac end and loop the sidewalk trails past the water feature. This is the city-funded park, and its trees went in this year, so they are still young.
- Redbud Park, Grand Blvd and Sherwood Lane. Cross the new pedestrian bridge over the pond and stop at the donor plaza wall, where the campaign that paid for the park is recorded.
- The pollinator garden below Nichols Hills Methodist Church. Casey Williams, who now leads Parks, Inc., told OKC Friday this planting "may not be the most eye catching, but it is probably my favorite project and the most labor-intensive planting area we have."
- Evangeline Park, Avondale and Huntington. End at the sculpture Nancy Ellis bought for the park and the benches she described in December.
For a longer walk, the A Walk in the Park app was built for exactly this. When it launched, it mapped a 5.45-mile loop through the city's parks to every public art piece in Nichols Hills. At each installation, walkers could listen to music by Oklahoma composer Nick Poss along with information about the piece. Melissa Scaramucci helped create the app and worked out the art trail with Nancy Herzel, the same neighbor who later co-chaired the Redbud campaign. They were photographed in front of "Pan of Rohallion," the first public art piece ever donated to Nichols Hills Parks. The app's launch party was a pop-up art show at Kite Park, with food trucks and augmented-reality work by Dr. Daniel Molina.
What the Next Volunteer Chair Might Build
Leadership at Parks, Inc. changed along with the parks. Susan Marshall had led the organization since it was formed in 1983. Casey Williams succeeded her after 14 years as chair of Woods Park. In her interview with OKC Friday, Williams said she would like Parks, Inc. to develop more nature programming for children and adults and to offer more family events. If any more land is given to the city, she said she would like to see public tennis and pickleball courts, a dog park, or a picnic pavilion rather than more open lawn.
The closest idea on her list is a seasonal one. "We are talking about launching a Winter Carnival in Kite Park the Sunday after Thanksgiving with a lighting ceremony, crafts for kids, sleigh rides and hot chocolate," Williams said. That's still a proposal, not a scheduled event. This year, the Sunday after Thanksgiving falls on November 29.
Williams told the paper that Parks, Inc. is "always looking for individuals to adopt a park," and that the pollinator garden below the Methodist church was available for naming rights this year. The organization's signature fundraiser, the Garden Tour, took place on June 13 with $20 advance tickets. Proceeds went to maintaining and beautifying the city's parks and green spaces.
Darian Woolbright and D.W. Real Estate Group follow Nichols Hills block by block, down to which corner park just got a new pond or a new sculpture. If you're thinking about what your own home on one of these streets is worth, or how the park around the corner fits into its story, Request a Private Listing Consultation.
