City employee discovering Fort Worth one park at a time

Published on September 08, 2022

Christine Garcia spent a lot of her childhood playing at Trinity Park and at a few of the parks in the north side neighborhood where she grew up.

Early this spring, the senior customer service representative in the City’s call center, with her husband and two sons, began exploring all the parks Fort Worth has to offer.

Garcia joined the City about 18 months ago. To better help callers, Garcia said she studies about the departments on the City’s website. What she garnered on the Park & Recreation page is how vast the City’s park system is – far beyond what she knew as a kid.

Garcia said she was telling her husband, Jose, perhaps they should start visiting them on Saturdays. Their goal is to get to every park with a playground. That’s about 209 of the nearly 296 parks.

“He said it sounds like a good idea, so we ran with it,” she said. “It’s been since March that we’ve been on this quest.”

Garcia selected Tillery Park, off Forest Park Boulevard, as their first stop and they have since checked off more than 30 locations. They pick two or three parks for each outing.

“We make a day of it,” Garcia said. “The kids enjoy it. They’re having a ball.”

The merry-go-round is their favorite and, of course, there’s a photo taken of the boys, Esai, 8, and Malachi, 6, at the park sign, she said.

While the kids are playing, Garcia said she and her husband talk and relax. It’s been good getting their sons outside and away from electronics, she said.

“We focus on our family time,” she said. “I’m trying to keep them active as much as possible. At the end of the day, we’re creating memories.”

Park & Recreation Department Director Richard Zavala commends Garcia for her ambitious pursuit and hopes their family enjoys the parks. He’s also hoping she can provide his department with comments about the playgrounds.

“We’d love to work with her,” Zavala said. “I’m excited that she’s willing to take this on.”

Photo: On nearly every weekend, the Garcia family can be found exploring a different Fort Worth park.

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