As I welcome you to a new school year, I am also welcoming you to a new series of articles: “Centenary’s Backyard.” The goal of this series is to introduce the nearby city, parish/county, state, and even national parks, refuges, and forests to our readers. Semesters at Centenary can become stressful, and we might need a way to escape for a while but not know of close places to go. I am writing this series to show you the accessible, peaceful nature places you can go to while still being able to make it home before dark. The distances will range from five minutes away to two hours away, and they will include parks from three different states (Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas). You can plan a short break from your homework, a day trip on a Saturday, or a whole weekend away, depending on what park you want to check out.

I am going to give you the inside scoop on everything outdoor recreation, and maybe some of the park’s staff will make a cameo! To welcome the Class of 2026 to Centenary, the first park on our list is the Shreveport equivalent of the love of my life, Betty Virginia Park, on Line Avenue. 

Distance from Centenary: 2.1 miles

Drive length: 4-7 minutes

Park amenities: playground, benches, picnic tables, small pavilions, walking path loop, public bathrooms (no promises on if they work or not), and lots of free grass space for laying a blanket down or playing fetch with your dog. 

Things you can do: You can have a date here, throw a birthday party, host a workout class, or have an Instagram photo shoot.

Rating: 5.9 dog leashes/6

I love this park because it is a very family-friendly place where anyone can go. I often go in the mornings on the weekends or after classes during the week. Sometimes I walk the path with a friend, and other times I bring ice cream or another food with me and sit at a picnic table watching everyone around me enjoy themselves. 

As it is a Shreveport city park, there are annual events that are held at Betty Virginia. One of those is the Crawfest in March, which is a three-day event that includes a race and live music. There is also an event in the fall involving pumpkins which is always fun. There is a Shreveport events website you can visit to see everything they are doing in the city for a season. Be a tourist in the place you live and check out what they have to offer!

Recently, I went to Betty Virginia with three of my friends just to hang out. We didn’t have a plan for what we were going to do, but we hadn’t been there in a while, so we decided to drive over there and have some fun. When we got there, we took some disposable pictures on Jack’s camera and some on our phones. One of our other friends got tired of taking pictures and told us we needed to play tag, which is not something I typically do at the park these days, but why not? So, I immediately bolted through the big grass field to the other side of the park to avoid being “it.” I can confidently say I escaped being tagged and logged my daily cardio all in one fell swoop. We quickly found out we were not little kids anymore and stopped playing tag because we were out of breath, so we sat on some of the concrete benches near the bridge in the park. As we were sitting there talking, we saw a squirrel running across the grass in front of us with something in his mouth. We were curious about what he had snagged, so I pulled my phone out to try and get a picture. The little guy had some sort of cup or drink container in his mouth, and he brought it up into his tree with him. After we took our time examining Mr. Squirrel, we decided to go get some food and left, but all in all, it was a good trip to our beloved Betty Virginia!

I hope you check out Betty Virginia, and stay tuned for the other places I will include in this series! It’s been a fun summer away, but I am excited to be back with everyone and make this year great!

Siobahn Stanley

I’m in the Class of 2024 as a Biology major with a Political Science minor. I’ve got 5 Greek orgs/ honors societies to my name plus a few other clubs and jobs, but that doesn’t stop me from loving staff writing for the Congo!

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