Strasburg Community Park is referred to as a "passive park," meaning it is designed for nature-based activities.

The people responsible for making that happen were anything but acquiescent.

Several of those community members were on hand June 9 for a celebration of the park's 25th anniversary.

The milestone was especially rewarding because of the effort it took to get to this point. Cindy Baker vividly recalls the day the journey began: March 24, 1998, the day of a Strasburg Borough council meeting.

"We rallied the troops because we heard some of the council members were considering selling (the land where the park is now located) off for development," Baker said. "So we had over 200 people show up for the meeting."

Only 125 fit into the conference room, and the rest gathered outside the door. Baker said four of the board members were inclined to proceed with the sale of the land, and three were opposed.

"The people spoke of their want to keep the open space," said Baker. "Because of the overwhelming show for open space, two of (the council members) changed their minds that night."

A motion to table the issue was made and passed, which gave the residents five years to come up with a plan about what to do with the 12 acres and how to pay for it. The group opposing the housing development, called Save Our Strasburg, sent a survey to local residents. The result of the questionnaire was that a vast majority of people wanted a passive park.

Save Our Strasburg hired a lawyer, who helped register the Strasburg Community Parks Foundation as a 501(c)(3) charity. In November 2000, the borough and the foundation agreed on a 99-year lease for a grand total of $1.

The foundation is required to provide upkeep for the park grounds. Baker noted that the borough continues to support the foundation.

"It was a victory back then, and every time you come in here you see it was worth it," she said. "It was worth the time and energy spent and the money. This is a glorious place."

Ann Schein, who was part of Save Our Strasburg, said, "It's such an asset to the town."

Bruce Ryder has served as Strasburg mayor for 25 non-consecutive years. He was the mayor in 1998 and holds the job today. The mayor in Strasburg only votes to break ties, but Ryder was sympathetic with the group's cause.

"I didn't know what we might do with the land," he said. "I was supportive of the idea of looking into having a park."

Ryder is thrilled with the finished product. "Strasburg Community Park is a very nice park, and it's different than most. It is great to also have ballfields, but this is a little different, and it provides for a different kind of outdoor recreation than active sports," he said.

Strasburg Community Park, located at 151 Precision Ave., boasts walking paths, a natural amphitheater, and a pavilion and highlights native plants in varied landscapes such as woodlands, meadows, and a vernal pond and wetlands, according to foundation board member Caroline Morton.

Harold Wiker of H.L. Wiker construction company and local entrepreneur Kenny Heisler were instrumental in founding the park project.

Landscape designer Larry Weaner and his friend Phil Larsen, a landscape architect, were hired to plot the park. "It was very exciting, and it got more exciting as it progressed," Weaner said. "We had a blank slate and designed multiple habitats with forest patches, meadows, shrub thickets, and ephemeral pines at the far end. It was really about people enjoying a natural space and accommodating wildlife."

He added, "Phil and I were directing volunteers where to plant trees, and Phil turned to me and said, 'This is about as good as it gets.'"

At the recent celebration, Tom Pontz, a Strasburg native, and his group, The Tom Pontz Project, performed a jazz set. Sallie Gregory, an education operations coordinator with the Lancaster Conservation District, gave a presentation about life found in local streams.

"It's a celebration of 25 years, and this is a product of what a community can do together, and that's worth celebrating," said Barb Rathbone-Frank, secretary of he Strasburg Community Parks Foundation. "It feels like we've been affirmed, that what we thought would be a good idea was a good idea."

Weaner had not seen the park for several years before returning during the pandemic. "It blew me away how well it had been maintained," he said. "The design could've been perfect - I'm not claiming it was perfect - but it could've been perfect, but without proper management, it would not look like this. Cindy, Barb, and their colleagues deserve a lot of credit."