Hardin Valley Community Park Is Closed Until Late 2027. Where Do Families Go in the Meantime?
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
"We are excited to bring a new community building to Hardin Valley that will provide a central hub for residents to gather, connect, and participate in programs and events," Knox County Commissioner Terry Hill told WVLT in September. He called the project "what years of advocacy can accomplish."
Building that hub means Hardin Valley has to give up its park first. Since Monday, Sept. 28, the gates at Hardin Valley Community Park, 12734 Hickory Creek Road, have been closed. Knox County Parks and Recreation plans to keep the whole park closed for about 13 months while the new building goes up. The playground, the open space and the reason to drive over on a free afternoon are all closed together.
No single park near Hardin Valley covers everything this one did. Each thing you used it for now points you to a different park on a different road, so it helps to know which use takes you where.
The current closure grew out of a problem from a few years ago. In March 2024, WATE reported that the old Hardin Valley Community Center inside the park had been vandalized and deemed unsafe because of its condition. In that same story, Commissioners Kim Frazier and Terry Hill described a new ADA-compliant playground with slides, swings and shade. The county and the Legacy Parks Foundation had broken ground on it the previous November. The commissioners also said the county planned to break ground on a new community center "next year."
Here is how the timeline has played out:
The two budget figures come from separate capital plans. They show money being set aside over two fiscal years, and they shouldn't be added together as a final project cost. The schedule shows that work started about a year and a half after the "next year" goal from 2024.
The closure covers the whole park. WVLT reported that because of "the heavy scope of the construction," the park will stay closed to the public for the full 13 months. The project will change how people get into and around the park. It includes:
When the entrance, the parking and the walking route to the playground are all being rebuilt, nobody can reach the playground safely, even though it isn't being torn down. Johnson & Galyon Construction is building the project, and PBA Property Development is managing it.
That playground was the park's main feature. Knox County's own page for the park lists one thing: "an ADA accessible playground." It adds that "future plans include a parking lot and Community Center." Those future plans are now underway, and the one thing the park had is closed while they are built.
Knox County's park pages list what each nearby park offers. Sorted by use, they show that the Hickory Creek Road park's role is now split across several roads in northwest and west Knox County.
| If you went to Hickory Creek Road for... | Try | Address | What the county lists there |
|---|---|---|---|
| A playground plus a walk | Walker Springs Park | 700 Kidder Lane | Playground, 1-mile paved walking trail, 0.1-mile nature trail, pavilion and gazebo, restrooms |
| A playground plus a dog | Knox County Sportspark | 8050 Oak Ridge Highway | Playground, walking trail, dog park, pavilion, concessions, restrooms |
| Ball fields | Knox County Sportspark | 8050 Oak Ridge Highway | Four softball fields, one baseball field, three practice football fields |
| Soccer and river time | Hickory Creek Park | 2120 Everett Road | Two soccer fields, picnic pavilion and tables, river access |
| A quick softball practice close to home | Solway Park | 3200 Solway Road | One softball field, picnic tables, restrooms |
| Playground and courts | Ball Camp Community Park and Nicholas Ball Park | 7232 Schaad Road | Four youth softball fields; next door, playground, basketball and tennis courts, pavilion, restrooms |
| A long day with everything | Concord Park East | 10909 S. Northshore Drive | Dog park, soccer fields, skatepark, paved walking trail, tennis courts; the wider Concord Park also lists a playground |
Two parks on that list do the most work. The Knox County Sportspark sits next to the Karns Senior Center. It has the closest mix of what a family might have combined in one trip to Hickory Creek Road: a playground, a walking trail and a dog park, plus a kayak launch. Walker Springs Park is the one to pick if your routine was mostly about walking. The county lists a full paved mile of trail there, plus a short nature trail.
The county's listings don't say whether the playgrounds at these parks match the ADA-accessible design at Hardin Valley. If your child needs that design, call Knox County Parks and Recreation before you drive over.
Hickory Creek Park is a different park from the closed one, even though the closed park sits on Hickory Creek Road. Before you load the car, check that the GPS address reads 2120 Everett Road.
The free recreation off the Pellissippi Parkway exit is still open too. We covered that route in our guide to Hardin Valley's two free parks that share one exit. Legacy Parks Foundation lists a playground among the amenities at Melton Hill Park, 3230 Williams Bend Road.
The playground is the visible loss. The new building is meant to fill the other gap, a public place for programs and events. Until it opens, a private venue is doing much of that job. We wrote earlier this year about how the Hardin Valley Event Center became the community center Hardin Valley never had. The county construction on Hickory Creek Road is a public effort to build what that venue has been providing.
The Event Center, at 2620 Willow Point Way in the former Johnny Long's Training Academy, has two events in November:
The Nov. 29 market has a lot of what families would have gone to the park for, including kids' activities and food trucks, all in one indoor afternoon. Listings like these can change, so check the Hardin Valley Event Center page the week of each market.
WVLT's target is the winter of 2027, about 13 months from the Sept. 28 start. That points to late 2027. When the park reopens, Knox County Parks and Recreation will manage the building as a dedicated public gathering place. Visitors will come in through a new entrance, park in a larger lot and walk to the same inclusive playground on a new path. The playground will be the same one, with a building next to it that the county first promised more than two years ago.
Until then, the Knox County Parks and Recreation park map is the best place to check for updates on the closed park and the parks covering for it.
At Jennifer Whicker, we keep track of what's open, what's closed and what's being built in Hardin Valley, because that's part of knowing the neighborhood. If you're wondering how a new community building on Hickory Creek Road might affect a home nearby, request your free home valuation and we'll walk through it with you.
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