Richard, Parks Director for Wimberley City, delivered the parks department quarterly report, highlighting strong visitor demand, new programs and facility maintenance updates.

Richard said Blue Hole Regional Park was named a Travelers’ Choice attraction by the travel site Tripadvisor, placing it among the top 10% of attractions worldwide, and that daily swim reservations continue to sell out through Labor Day. He told the board that summer camps — Blue Hole Nature Camp and Wimberley Summer Camp — exceeded last year’s attendance and revenue, with year-over-year program attendance growth of about 18 percent.

The parks director reported the community center hosted a private gun show that drew more than 2,000 attendees in a single weekend, well above the city’s normal monthly attendance; the facility received rental revenue at commercial event rates. Board members discussed whether the city’s rental contracts should include a revenue-share clause for large, for-profit events; staff said current commercial rates are higher than standard room charges and that the city could return with concrete figures on fees and potential revenue-share models.

Facility maintenance updates included repair of a large exterior leak and smaller interior leaks; staff said the exterior leak is fixed and interior repairs are scheduled to finish that week. Parks staff also described preparations for the city’s 25th anniversary celebrations, including a new stage at Oak Park and additional vendor stalls to support markets and local sellers.

New and continuing programs drew positive comments. A monthly program run by Super Dimension Gaming, focused on board and tabletop games, has become one of the department’s most popular offerings; the organizer is exploring a physical store in Wimberley. The department also hosted an acoustic bat-monitoring project at Patsy Glen Refuge that captured 92 audio recordings and identified eight bat species, six of which the presenter characterized as species of conservation concern; staff said the data will inform conservation planning and be summarized in a blog post.

Richard noted staff is preparing an aquatic feasibility study RFP (from the city’s master plan) and that, if legal review is complete, the RFP would be presented to the board at the next meeting. He closed by noting a $750,000 grant application for the Blue Hole Nature Center was submitted to Texas Parks and Wildlife on Aug. 1 and that the Nature Center discovery-phase item would be discussed later on the agenda.

No formal board action was taken on the quarterly report itself; the board later moved and approved the Blue Hole Nature Center discovery-phase recommendation as a separate agenda item.