Family donates Holloway Park and its 379 acres of walking and running trails to Lakeland

Lakeland has become the proud owner of Holloway Park, increasing the city's total open space by more than 20%.

Lakeland commissioners voted unanimously to accept the generous donation of more than 379 acres of Holloway Park to become city-owned property. The land is valued at $12.9 million.

"This is the largest land donation the City of Lakeland has ever received at one time," said Bob Donahay, the city's director of parks, recreation and culture. "We're honored to be on the receiving end of this."

The park is adjacent to the existing city-owned John McGee Park, 2399 Edgewood Drive, which is to the north. It also shares a border with a Florida Southern College athletic complex on Lakeland Highlands Road and an undeveloped 36-acre parcel the Holloways donated to Southeastern University for the same purpose in 2020.

The park was created by the late Lakeland developer Edward Holloway and his wife, Mary Ann, in 2010. Holloway was one of the first developers of reclaimed phosphate land for commercial and recreational use. He died in 2021 at age 91.

"The Holloway family's generosity in making this kind of offer to the city is amazing," Mayor Bill Mutz said.

Holloway Park is most widely known for hosting a variety of cross country meets for all ages, ranging from elementary school students to competitive college athletes. Commissioner Mike Musick, who is a cross country coach, said he was one of the individuals who worked to map out the park's 10K, or 6.2-mile course.

"It's the second rated cross country course in the State of Florida," Donahay said.

The park hosts more than 30 cross country track meets per year. This includes the Florida Runners.com Invitational meet which brings roughly 4,5000 runners to Polk County each year.

For those looking for a shorter distance, Donahay said the cross country trail is clearly marked at 1K, 2K, 3K and 5K intervals.

Another feature of Holloway Park is its 18-hole disc golf course. Donahay said the course has an app that indicates about 4,261 rounds were played on it last year — not including those who didn't sign in to the app.

"We are looking to expand on that and enhance it," he said.

Lakeland will temporarily shut down Holloway Park immediately, and it will remain closed for a period of two to four weeks, Donahay said. City maintenance crews will move through the park, making sure all the walking trails are mowed, tree branches and roots trimmed and it's up to the city's public safety standards.

A grand reopening celebration will be scheduled at a later, unspecified date.

Lakeland will spend $82,000 from impact fees to purchase three, zero-turn, 72-inch mowers and two rough terrain utility vehicles to help maintain the park.

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Donahay said the city has estimated yearly maintenance of the park will cost about $12,000. Lakeland will budget $20,000 a year for six portable restrooms to be stationed throughout the park and $10,000 for miscellaneous supplies such as trash bags. The total annual cost is about $41,000.

"We feel with all the events we'll be hosting, we'll more than make up that amount of money," he said.

Mark Zimmerman, Visit Central Florida's senior economic development manager, said he thinks by working in partnership with the city the organization may be able to go after additional cross country meets, including high school state championships.

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on X @SaraWalshFl.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Family donates 379-acre Holloway Park to city of Lakeland