On the weekends, you can most likely find STMS’ 7th grade guidance counselor and her family at Rock Hill’s newest park.

“I go to Miracle park also most every weekend with my 8 year old daughter and 6 year old son,” said Mrs. McCoy. ” Their favorite thing is the mini zipline but they jump around and love every part of Miracle Park.”

The Zipline is one of the activities Mrs. McCoy’s kids enjoy the most.

Miracle Park, located on Eden Terrace, is an all-inclusive playground. Jonathan Shea, Terry Hagen, and Elaine Norman came up with the idea for the state-of-the-art park. 

‘’I think it is good that people can go to Miracle Park and have a park for them to play around and have fun in,’’ said Davis Capel, a STMS 7th grader.

Mrs. McCoy’s son Kyle loves to hang around on the monkey bars.

Terry Hagen, creator and founder of Miracle Park said,  ‘’The idea to build Miracle Park came about hen a community volunteer, David Williams, watched his nephew play baseball on a Miracle Field in Greenville.  Since Rock Hill is known for sports tourism, he brought the idea back to Rock Hill and people loved it.”

Miracle Park  provides people of all abilities and ages the opportunity to enjoy the park’s amenities and programming year-round.  At the park you  can find people exploring  the sensory wall,  playing on Miracle Field and enjoying other activities.

Ms. Remus, a 6th-grade ELA teacher at STMS  stated ‘’I think Miracle Park is an amazing place and should be celebrated and replicated across the United States.  It’s a park that supports inclusivity and meets the needs of most kids should not be a new or rare concept.’’

Hagen said, “The City was already going to rebuild the old Winthrop ball field and playground, so when plans began for Miracle Park, the executive team looked into making that field a part of Miracle Park.  Winthrop University donated the land for the fields, so that location made perfect sense, and now we have a partnership with Winthrop University.’’

The City of Rock Hill Parks, Recreation & Tourism (PRT) Department operates, maintain and come up with programs for the park.

Since it’s opening in September of 2021 , people from all over have enjoyed the park.

‘’In October 2021, we had approximately 11, 600 people attend.,” said Hagen. “In November 2021, we had approximately 10,275 people attend.’’

Hagen said it took 4 years to raise enough money to complete phase one of the park.  Phase one  includes the playground, office area, concession area, restrooms, picnic areas, and Miracle Field.   “We are in the process of raising money for Phase 2 and Phase 3,” she said. “Hopefully, we can complete those in the next 2/3 years.’’

Jack Neal, a 7th-grade student said he looks forward to Phase 2 of the park. ‘’I think it will help because the addition of new fields and more activities to do will help it a lot,” said Neal. 

Mrs. McCoy and her 8 year old daughter Hayden and her 6 year old son Kyle enjoy going to Miracle Park on the weekends.

 Hagen said funds from several sponsors helped to make Miracle Park what it is today.

A few of the sponsors that donated more than $100,000 were Coca-Cola, the Carolina Panthers, and Winthrop University. More sponsors that paid more than $10,000 were Family Trust, Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, and The Burns. There were in total 482 sponsors who helped out with Miracle Park. The sponsors that helped out Miracle Park could be a huge business or a personal business but every donation counts. Even a few churches and schools helped out with all the common goals in mind.