© 2025 SDPB Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Rapid City Residents Still Have Easy Access to Open Spaces, For Now

Hanson-Larsen Memorial Park

The operators of Hanson-Larsen Memorial Park (HLMP) are trying to keep the outdoor resource open for the health and well-being of Rapid Citians, while taking a wait-and-see attitude during these unusual times.

Rapid City residents have access to fresh air and rugged Black Hills beauty right in the center of the city. Hanson Larsen Memorial Park comprises three hundred acres of rocky and riparian, forestland creatured, prairie and ponderosa pined, typically awesome local topography within walking distance of downtown — with over twenty miles of hiking and biking trails.

The non-profit, privately-owned park was established through a trust bequeathed by area rancher Edna Marie “Eddie” Larsen, in honor of her parents, Ed Larsen and Etta Hanson-Larsen.

Jeff Denison is secretary treasurer for the HLMP Foundation. He says Board members are trying to keep the park open for now, even when doing so will require more maintenance later on. "Right now, we've taken the position that there's a lot of days we normally may have closed," says Denison, "but we're going to have to fix trail damage anyway."

Denison says the park spends between one hundred and one hundred fifty thousand dollars every year repairing trail damage, mostly caused when trial conditions are muddy.

"We're going to try and stay open as much as we can for the general public benefit," says Denison. "That being said, if the city decides that parks and golf courses need to be closed, we are going to be closed. We are also going to be closed if our users can't maintain extreme social distancing. We want everyone to be safe and happy and use this for what it's intended for."

The majority of trail users are responsible actors, he says.

"We have had very little in the way of issues. What we see is telling us that our users are taking this all very seriously. They're maintaining social distance. So, we want to keep it open. People need a place to go."