Chillicothe — The grand reopening of Yoctangee Park, after 2 1/2 years of planning and renovation, was November 7th and 8th, 2026.
Here are the first batch of my videos from Friday’s events, focusing on the speeches and open houses. (I was out of town for Saturday’s events.) See my companion story for the second batch, focusing on the open houses of the two builidngs. Also read the Scioto Post’s overview of the event.
The work was the largest part of the state “Appalachian Community Grant Program” (ACGP), which was mostly funded by $500M to the federally designated Appalachian counties of Ohio. It included projects in Frankfort and Bainbridge in Ross County, as well as other counties in southern Ohio (with all the projects managed by the Ross County Commissioners).
After several months of preliminary planning, the Chillicothe project was announced on May 1st, 2024. American Structurepoint, an architectural and planning company that continues with other projects with the city of Chillicothe, designed the park renovations. After public feedback including pushback on multiple traffic roundabouts, and revisions to buildings designs, work started in the fall of 2025.
All the street plans emphasized pedestrian safety. That included creating a cul de sac for activities at the old armory, and removing the park road from the lakeside road to the old armory.
Work also included replacing the worn brick pavement of a block North Mulberry Street and its intersection at Riverside, and creation of the lone remaining planned roundabout at Yoctangee Boulevard and Mill Street.
But the work was required to be finished within about two years – with the grand reopening on November 6th, 2026. My preview story of that included the schedule for both days.
A grander forecourt for 1928 “Memorial Armory” was created, with a new multi-use open-space building that now houses the farmers market. An amphitheater, suggested since the 1993 park plan, was built against the hillside (while retaining the “40 and 8” veteran’s fish fry stand, rebuilt recently).
Watch the second batch of videos in the next companion story.
