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Fun Facts

SRPD’s 33 Fun Facts

Fun Facts Graphic

 

  1. SRPD hosts over 250 Children’s jump houses each year in the parks. (Link)
     
  2. Since 1950, Over 92,000 organized softball games have been played in the District.
     
  3. SRPD maintains over 488 acres of park land for enjoyment.
     
  4. The Historic Rusch Home located within Rusch Park is one of the oldest homes in Citrus Heights. The home was ordered from the Sears Catalog in 1916 and arrived by train in the Roseville Train station. (Link)
     
  5. SRPD provides 316 picnic tables throughout the park system. (Link)
     
  6. Pickleball is the fastest growing sports in the District. (Link)
     
  7. The Antelope Community Tennis Association hosts three national tournaments a year at the Antelope Community Park Tennis Complex.
     
  8. At .38 acres, the smallest park site in the District is Rushmore Jeanine. (Link)
     
  9. The largest park site in the District is Rusch Community Park at 48.36 acres. (Link)
     
  10. Foothill Community Park is located on what was once the site of one of the last stables in Foothill Farms.
     
  11. Prior to Highway 80’s construction, the parking lot at Walerga Park was originally a section of Palm Avenue.
     
  12. Lone Oak Park took its name from the “Lone” giant oak that has been on the property before the construction of the park. (Link)
     
  13. Each year over 1,000 youth games are played at Rusch Park and Antelope Community Park.
     
  14. Eugene Ahner Park takes its name after the District’s first Parks Director.  Currently, there is also a youth scholarship program named in his honor. (Link)
     
  15. Previous aerial fireworks shows took place at Tetotom Park.
     
  16. The wood bridge at Stock Ranch Nature Preserve is over a quarter mile long.
     
  17. The newest park in the system is Cabana Park where a future dog park will be constructed in 2019. (Link)
     
  18. Walerga Park is home to a California Historical Landmark that includes a memorial honoring and remembering American citizens of Japanese descent who were wrongly detained during World War II. (Link)
     
  19. A duck pond once was located within Rusch Community Park.
     
  20. In the 1950s and 1960s, Julia Rusch would give cookies from her back porch to children who came to Rusch Community Park to play.
     
  21. The Historic Rusch Home was designated as a California Point of Historical Interest in 1991.
     
  22. Twice a year the SRPD Activity Guide is mailed out to over 70,000+ households within the communities of Antelope, Citrus Heights, and Foothill Farms. (Link)
     
  23. Residents, including two former Parks Directors, occupied the Historic Rusch Home 1990’s.
     
  24. The gardens around the Historic Rusch Home used to be a botanical garden.  Many unusual trees remain including a rare Jujube tree.
     
  25. The covered bridge in Rusch Community Park was built from an old train boxcar frame from the Southern Pacific Railroad. (Link)
     
  26. Pokelma Park’s name means “rope of feathers” in reference to a sacred rope made of feathers in a Native American story about the watersheds and salmon.  Pokelma Park is within the Drycreek watersheds. (Link)
     
  27. Arcade Creek Park Preserve contains the first zip line located in a park within the County of Sacramento. (Link)
     
  28. Cameron Champ, who turned pro on the PGA tour in 2017, grew up playing golf at the Foothill Golf Course.
     
  29. In 1950, Fred and Julia Rusch donated 15 acres of land to the public.  This generous donation lead to the formation of the Sunrise Recreation and Park District.  Fred and Julia were brother and sister.
     
  30. The creek at Arcade Creek Park Preserve received improvements with tree root wads installed in the creek beds and banks to provide slope stabilization and for erosion prevention.  The tree root wads used were from trees removed from the site. (Link)
     
  31. Sometimes salmon can be seen swimming upstream in Arcade Creek at the Arcade Creek Park Preserve.
     
  32. The Sunrise Patio Room at Rusch Community Park was the initial location of the City of Citrus Heights Counsel meetings.
     
  33. The creek corridors are highways for wildlife where you might see raccoons, skunks, wild turkey, deer, and an abundance of other creatures.
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