A few days before Papillion’s renovated City Park opened, Mayor David Black saw children playing, a couple sitting at a picnic table and an older couple walking through the grounds.

The park felt comfortable with only a few people there. Days later, it welcomed thousands.

“It was almost like a boutique feel,” Black said. “Three days later, we had 60,000 people in here, and it functioned extremely well.”

Those two experiences reflected a central goal of the renovation: create a park that serves residents on an ordinary afternoon and accommodates the events that bring the wider community together.

Now complete and reopened, City Park offers a destination playground, walking paths, gathering areas and a performance pavilion at Washington and Lincoln streets in the heart of Papillion. The improvements give residents more ways to enjoy a place that has long been part of community life.

A park for everyday visits and major events

Planning for thousands of visitors requires room for vendors, performances and crowds moving through the grounds. Black wanted the park to meet those demands while remaining inviting during quieter stretches of the year.

“How does it feel appropriate for a small group at the same time that can handle a massive crowd?” he said. “Those are competing resources.”

The renovation gives visitors choices about how to spend their time. Children can explore nature-inspired playground features and the “Papio Pile Up” climbing structure. Walking paths connect the park, while picnic areas, porch swings and hammock groves provide places to gather or take a break. Road, parking, lighting and stormwater improvements support those activities.

The design work was a collaborative effort. Confluence led the team and provided site, landscape, playground and amenity design. Morrissey Engineering provided lighting design. Schemmer contributed civil engineering and building design for the pavilion, along with surveying, utility coordination and geotechnical investigation.

A pavilion with more than one purpose

For Michael Sinclair, Architect & Project Manager, the pavilion illustrates how the design responds to different uses.

The park previously had separate structures for picnics and performances. Combining those functions in one pavilion allows the structure to serve smaller gatherings and larger events.

“So it’s sort of merging those two ideas together and then fronting that on two different green spaces,” Sinclair said. “So it really becomes a very flexible space.”

That flexibility gives the pavilion a purpose after a performance ends and the crowd leaves. It remains a place where people can meet, share a meal or spend time together.

For Sinclair, hearing from residents who appreciate and use the park makes the work worthwhile.

Black had already seen the beginnings of that ownership in the children playing, the couple at the picnic table and the older couple out for a walk. Each had found a reason to be there.

“This is where community comes together,” he said.

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