Mott Park Recreation Area

The Mott Park Community Center is available to rent for birthday parties, family reunions, holiday events, and other similar gatherings. The cost is $75/hr with a four hour minimum (so $300 for most events) plus a $50 cleaning fee. The Mott Park Recreation Area has no employees – all volunteers – so 100% of rental fees will go into preserving, improving, and developing the space – both the clubhouse and the external green space. Inside capacity is 75 people. Feel free to send us a message to inquire.

This Saturday, June 25, 2022 we will celebrate the grand opening of the refurbished clubhouse at 2701 Nolen Drive in Flint. The clubhouse has water and power, thanks to the city of Flint; a new roof, new furnaces and air conditioners, thanks to grants from Communities First and the CFGF, and new paint and plumbing, thanks to the efforts of our dedicated volunteers.

Festivities will begin at 3:00 PM and run until 8:00 PM. We will have food trucks set up in the parking lot, a bounce house and other activities for the children, a local vendor area with booths to purchase their wares, a beer tent (we will be checking EVERYONE’S ID), and live entertainment on the deck. Beer tickets can only be purchased in the clubhouse. The clubhouse will also be open for tours, the restrooms are working, and you can buy a membership in the Recreation area for a donation of $20 or more. Members will receive a Mott Park Recreation Area bumper sticker which entitles you to free parking in our parking lot any time it is open (wink, wink).

Speaking of the parking lot, because the food trucks will be there Saturday, the parking lot and the parking circle in front of the clubhouse will be closed for parking from Friday night until after the festivities. Play on the disc golf course will be restricted to holes 4 through 16 on Saturday. Parking is available on the grass (Saturday only) along the south side of Nolen Drive. As always the north side of Nolen and one side of Weller and Dougherty are also available for parking.

We always welcome donations. If you wish to support the Mott Park Recreation Area, please check out our Contributions Page where you can find the address to send us a check or the link to donate on-line. The Mott Park Recreation Association is a 501-c-3 corporation and, as always, contributions are deductible on your state and local income taxes, check with your tax preparer. You must donate before January 1, 2023 to claim your contribution on your 2022 taxes.

That’s right! The Flint River Flotilla is this coming Saturday. Register now, the deadline for early registration is Thursday, August 1. Or you can sign up to be a volunteer. and help direct traffic on the river, help people into the river at Tenacity, help people out of the river at the Mott Park Recreation Area, or help at the party after the Flotilla at the Mott Park Recreation Area, featuring music, food trucks, prizes, and photo ops.

For more information or to register or volunteer, go to the Flotilla Page at the Flint River Coalition site. The event will be held, rain or shine but the start may be delayed for dangerous weather.

This Spring, the Mott Park Recreation Area and the Flint River Watershed Coalition participated in a fundraising campaign with Patronicity. Patronicity is a crowdfunding platform which partners with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, a public/private partnership of the State of Michigan with many other public and private entities to encourage economic development in Michigan communities.

The terms of our Patronicity campaign were to raise $50,000 in 50 days to get a $50,000 match from MEDC. And we did it! At the end of the campaign, we had received $56,786 from 596 donors, an average of just under $100/donor. We wish to thank all our donors for their generosity.

The new canoe and kayak landing will be placed just west of the western footbridge, on the South bank of the river, where the Flint River Flotilla has traditionally landed. It will consist of a series of concrete and wooden steps down to the low-water mark of the river. The steps will have metal handrails toward the sides and a wood rail in the middle to allow watercraft to be slid up or down, similar to the illustration below.

At the end of the spring run-off, there will be a groundbreaking ceremony and work will commence. We hope to have enough work completed by August 3, 2019, to use the new landing for the annual Flint River Flotilla.

We will keep you apprised of progress toward the new landing. Watch this space!

On Tuesday, February 19, 2019, The Mott Park Recreation Area will hold an Open House at 6 PM in Kettering University’s Campus Center at 1700 University Drive, corner of Chevrolet Ave.

Over the past decade, the Mott Park Recreation Association has assisted the community in realizing a vision for the former municipal golf course. Join us for this open house, hosted by KU, highlighting the many advances as well as future plans for this peaceful, 70-acre, nature-filled, multi use park along the banks of the Flint River.

Light refreshments will be served as we review the Mott Park Disc Golf Course, the Monarch Butterfly Waystation and Natural Areas, The Flint Turkey Trot, our ongoing grounds maintenance and security programs, and our planned Paddlers Landing. Let us know how YOU think we’re doing and what we should plan for the future.

 

Despite the chilly weather, hundreds of runners came out to the Mott Park Recreation Area to participate in the 62nd running of the Flint Turkey Trot.

Proceeds from this year’s events went to support the YMCA Summer Camp Program and the Whaley Childrens’ Home.

Photos by Kaitlynn Sullivan of Mlive.

On Thursday, November 22, 2018, Thanksgiving Day, the Mott park Recreation Area will host the 62nd Annual Flint Turkey Trot. Races start at 9 AM and will be finished before noon. This is the oldest, consecutively run footrace in Michigan! It attracts up to 500 participants every year, depending a little bit on the weather.  The event features a 1-Mile and 2-Mile race for youngsters and a 3-Mile main event. This year, proceeds go to support the YMCA Summer Camp Program as well as Whaley Children’s Home.

You can register on Bauman’s website on the Events page: https://werunthistown.com/collections/events

Cost: Adult (18+) $15 with shirt & award, 17 & under $5 with shirt & award. If you can’t afford entry, come anyway and race for free. Event Times: 9:00AM for the 13 & Under 1 mile and the 13 & under/15 & under 2-Mile. 9:30AM for the 17 & Under 3-Mile and the 18 & Over 3-Mile. Packet Pickup and registration: 11/20 & 11/21 10:00am-6:00pm at Bauman’s.

All Ages welcome: No bikes, No dogs!

 

On Saturday, August 4, hundreds of people floated down the beautiful Flint River from Tenacity Brewing on Grand Traverse Street to the west end of the Mott Park Recreation Area. The weather was warm and sunny. They came in canoes, kayaks, rafts, inner tubes, and many other interesting floating contraptions. At the rec area, they were met by food trucks and began the party that followed them back to Tenacity and continued into the evening.

Last year, the flotilla had to be cancelled due to the dredging operations up-stream from the Hamilton Dam. The contractors were removing age-old coal tar contamination from the coal gassification plant that supplied lighting gas to the city in the gaslight era prior to Flint’s electrification. After the noxious chemicals were removed from the river bed and banks, work began on the removal of the dam, which is now GONE!

The cancellation of last year’s flotilla gave the organizers the opportunity to use the funds donated (with consent of the donors) to begin the planning for a permanent, improved canoe and kayak launch at the rec area. Over the winter, plans were completed. During the spring and summer, funds have been raised and permits have been obtained for construction. We expect work to begin shortly on a launch ramp just down-stream from the site we have been using for the flotillas.

Next year, we plan to use the new Mott Park Recreation Area Canoe and Kayak Launch to service the 2019 Flint River Flotilla.

This event is free to all who come to the recreation area. Purchase of the $1 Tourist Passport gives you access to the shuttle service between all the events and locations and free admission to most venues visited. Purchase before July 7 enters you into a drawing for 2 tickets to the Ally Challenge golf tournament at Warwick Hills.

During this event, the disc golf course will be open, but play will be restricted to holes 4-17. Holes 1-3 and 18 will be used for instruction.

Last year was a great year for the Mott Park Recreation Area. We received support through Kettering University for our grounds maintenance efforts, we received grants for the development of a Disc Golf Course and we actually built it and opened it. This year, we are working with the Flint River Watershed Coalition to install a Canoe and Kayak Launch Site on the banks of the Flint River.

The engineering studies for the launch site are complete and the permitting process is underway. We hope construction will begin shortly and the site will be ready for the Flint River Flotilla which is scheduled for Saturday, August 4, 2018.

Over the winter, a forestry firm removed a large cottonwood tree which had fallen across the river between the two footbridges. This spring, the brush and lower tree branches, and a couple dead trees, were cleared around the parking lot and the club house to improve visibility for aesthetic, safety, and security reasons. Our association worked with the city of Flint on these projects.

In a response to last fall’s problems in the parking lot, the city has had new security cameras installed in the club house and the maintenance barn, and will soon have more installed in the parking lot now that the forestry work has been completed. These cameras are part of the Flint Police Department’s C.A.T.T.-EYE program to provide real-time monitoring and a prompt response to security issues at businesses and other locations in our community. The association had C.A.T.T.-EYE signs and a flashing green beacon installed to advise our users, our neighbors, and any potential violators that the system is in place.

In the meantime, our 18-Hole Disc Golf Course has been thriving. Despite cold and snow, it was used by golfers throughout the winter months. Often they brought shovels with them to remove snow from the tee pads. With the end of winter, there were a few times when the river was high and much of the course was under water and some of the target baskets were clogged with flood debris, but the waters receded and the golfers and course workers returned to removed the debris. We did lose our practice target to a collision with a snowmobile, but we expect to have it re-installed soon.

Lately, our problems have been the phenomenal rate of growth of the grass on the course combined with frequent showers which have kept portions of the rec area too wet to mow regularly. Our groundskeepers are working hard to keep up the course and pasture areas and are hoping for slightly dryer weather as summer approaches.

We are monitoring the dam removal projects upstream and are hopeful that the water flows in the river will be sufficient to support canoe and kayak traffic and fishing opportunities.