A splash pad, new restrooms, a shade structure and two sand volleyball courts are headed to Gary Reese Freedom Park in East Las Vegas, with a groundbreaking ceremony set for 9 a.m. next Thursday, August 13. The $3.2 million project will rise on the park's west end along Mojave Road between Harris and Washington avenues, adding to a 68-acre site at 850 N. Mojave Road that already includes playgrounds, a skate park, a disc golf course, baseball and softball fields, picnic areas and a walking and jogging path.
Las Vegas Mayor Pro Tem and Ward 3 Councilwoman Olivia Diaz will lead the groundbreaking ceremony, according to KLAS 8 News Now. Diaz said the new water play area will be popular with families with small children during hot summers, and called Gary Reese Freedom Park a well-used regional recreational area, adding that the improvements will benefit Ward 3 residents. Carpenter Sellers Del Gatto Architects is serving as design consultant on the project, and Monument Construction is the contractor, per the same report.
A Park Already Deep Into a Multi-Year Makeover
The splash pad and restrooms are just the latest addition to a park that has seen a steady stream of upgrades in recent years. In June 2021, a new community playground opened at the park as part of the FOX5 Superbuild initiative, co-funded by the Make An Impact Foundation, the Las Vegas Raiders and Barclays Bank US, according to FOX5 Las Vegas. The following year, the City of Las Vegas partnered with Musco Sports Lighting, Target and the U.S. Soccer Foundation to convert an unused concrete pad into a four-court futsal mini-pitch facility with spill-controlled LED lighting, as detailed by Musco Sports Lighting.
Sustainability upgrades have arrived alongside the recreational ones. In February 2024, NV Energy and the City of Las Vegas inaugurated the Gary Reese Freedom Park Community Solar Project, installing solar-covered parking shade structures under NV Energy's Expanded Solar Access Program, according to the City of Las Vegas. That same month, the city wrapped up the $5.47 million Harris Trail project, adding walking paths, bike lanes and flashing pedestrian beacons to the stretch of Harris Avenue running alongside the park between Bruce Street and Mojave Avenue.
Battling the Heat With Shade and Water
East Las Vegas experiences higher ambient summer temperatures than much of the valley, which has shaped how the city has approached the park's design in recent years. In June 2022, the city planted dozens of drought-tolerant shade trees, including mesquite and eucalyptus, at the park as part of an urban forestry initiative targeting extreme heat, according to the Las Vegas Sun. The coming splash pad and shade structure extend that same heat-mitigation strategy into one of the park's busiest zones.
The park is also home to the Carlos L. Martinez and Darrio J. Hall Family Swimming Pool, giving Ward 3 residents another water-based option once the splash pad is complete. Just months ago, on April 4, more than 100 employee volunteers from Southwest Gas joined Get Outdoors Nevada and the City of Las Vegas for a cleanup that removed 975 pounds of trash and 225 yards of damaged fencing and replaced four soccer goal nets, a project highlighted by Southwest Gas. That cleanup underscores the level of community investment already flowing into the park ahead of next Thursday's groundbreaking.
Part of a Broader Citywide Park Investment
The Freedom Park project fits into a much larger pattern of municipal spending on green space. Since 2000, the City of Las Vegas has invested more than $500 million into expanding and renovating city parks, with more than half of that funding coming from federal land sales under the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. That spending has helped grow the city's total park acreage from 566 to 1,870 acres.
Gary Reese Freedom Park also houses the 30-acre Big League Dreams sports complex, featuring replica Major League Baseball stadiums, batting cages and an indoor soccer pavilion the city built in 2010. Private management firm TC Sports Group took over operations of that complex in August 2021, the Review-Journal reported at the time, with former city leaders having envisioned the replica stadiums as a draw for youth and adult sports tournaments in East Las Vegas.
The park itself carries the name of former City Councilman Gary Reese, who represented Ward 3 for 16 years and served as Mayor Pro Tem. Reese, a longtime neighborhood figure, operated the Plaza Barber Shop on Bonanza Road for more than 40 years while advocating for investments in Eastside parks, according to the Review-Journal's 2012 reporting. Residents planning a visit should note that the park's dog park, with separate fenced areas for large and small dogs, closes every Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for routine maintenance, per the City of Las Vegas.
