Canby Community Park, also known as River Park, was closed to motor vehicle traffic today, with the access road being gated off.
Interim City Administrator Amanda Zeiber says the decision was made in accordance with the latest orders from Governor Kate Brown to slow the spread of COVID-19, and to “support social distancing.”
“In support of Governor Brown’s executive order, we closed city parks facilities and equipment,” Zeiber said in an email to the Canby Now Podcast. “The gate to Community Park was closed to support social distancing.”
All playgrounds and public restrooms at park facilities have also been closed, as Mayor Brian Hodson confirmed in a Facebook Live video with other city leaders Wednesday night. Zeiber says city parks and trails are open for pedestrians.
The city acquired the original 8.5 acres of land for Community Park was acquired in 1956. It was expanded in May 1966, when the city purchased 6.34 acres from Ross Mitchell, after adding some land from the John I. Gale farm in 1959.
After the destructive Columbus Day Storm of 1962, the Canby Jaycees cleared brush, downed trees, and made the park usable again. A Lake Oswego unit of the Oregon Army National Guard helped scouts build the Boy Scout A-frame in 1972, which Troop 258 continues to use and maintain.
Community Park also boasts picnic facilities, barbecue pits, playground equipment and a public fishing pond known to almost everybody as “the Canby pond.”
