Landscape crews sowed hundreds of trees and plants and installed the sod at Civic Park just weeks ahead of its grand opening on Sept. 30.
Then before the turf had barely taken root, thousands of first-time visitors tramped through the new public park at Hemisfair, including jazz fans who lounged in chairs and on blankets for hours in front of the performance stage.
The green grass mostly survived, said Hemisfair officials.
The TifTuf Bermuda grass was selected because it is known to be drought- and wear-tolerant, said Project Manager Gary Boyd. It was grown on a ranch near the town of Poteet, better known as the “Strawberry Capital of Texas.”
In one area of Civic Park, the outline of the stage, in place for five days, left the grass yellow in some parts due to lack of sunshine. Alcohol spills on the grass also shocked it in a number of spots.
The rest remains green as spring despite both the heavy foot traffic and historic drought conditions. Experts recommend up to two weeks of special care for newly planted sod.
Testing out various procedures and products at Civic Park will continue through the end of the year, said Andres Andujar, CEO of the Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corp.
During the hottest days of summer, grass and the trees in the 5-acre park were watered three times a day, using filtered nuisance water collected in 41,000-gallon cisterns under the lawn.
During winter, parkgoers can expect to see the grass go dormant, Boyd said, looking tan in some parts before it greens up as the weather warms again.
About 4,000 square feet of the grass was protected during Jazz’SAlive by large translucent sheets of plastic laid to shield the grass. That did its job, Andujar said.
When the estimated 15,000 attendees went home, the sheeting was removed and the grass was even greener than before.
Hemisfair crews also are planning how to set up the stage for fewer days in the future to prevent damage to the grass. Lawn chairs aren’t expected to be as big a concern once the grass takes hold and the fabric can’t be as easily punctured, Andujar said.
As for the spilled alcohol in the park, “We’re watching that,” Andujar said. That kind of damage could be repaired with new grass plugs because Hemisfair officials are reluctant to limit alcohol intake on the lawn for major events. “You’re better off fixing the grass,” he said.
In the meantime, greater crowds are about to descend upon Hemisfair and test the resilience of its new great lawn at Civic Park.
“We have hundreds of thousands of people that will come to Civic Park between [now] and the end of the year — spectacular attendance,” Andujar said. Upcoming events include Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival, Dia de los Muertos at Hemisfair, Diwali San Antonio and Veteran’s Day.
More than 135,000 people attended last year’s two-day Luminaria event at Hemisfair, and making plans and decisions for a space that is so heavily used can be a challenge, he said. “But the first test is a success.”
Now that the western side of the Hemisfair district is nearly complete, with phase 2 of Civic Park about to get underway and planned new hotels and apartment projects are mostly financed, Andujar is turning his attention to Tower Park.
But it’s not easy, he said. Repurposing historic structures built for the 1968 World’s Fair will be costly and challenging.
One of the goals is to make the area inviting and useful to all ages of park-goers, from children to the elderly, he said, and feature even more gathering spaces.
