(ANOKA) – It’s Nicole Greenwell’s job in the communications department for Anoka County Parks to help promote what many consider a crown jewel of the North Metro: the county’s regional park system.
“Three Rum River parks on the Rum River,” said Greenwell as she enumerated the virtues of the sytem. “(There’s also) Rice Creek Chain of Lakes on the Rice Creek, and Bunker Hills is one of the only remaining oak savannahs in the area, and it definitely features a lot of cool natural resources that are in Anoka County.”
So when she was tasked with creating a series of eight posters to commemorate and capture iconic scenes from each park, she jumped at the chance. She collected numerous photographs from the parks and visited sites to get a good idea of what she wanted to depict.
“Quite a few of them are multiple photographs, just because I wanted to capture those things but in one photograph they don’t all fit together very nicely,” said Greenwell. “So, using maybe a tree from this picture, but maybe the building from another picture, they wouldn’t be angled like that in real life, but they captured the essence of each park.”
She said her favorite of the parks is Bunker Hills Regional Park, but the favorite of the images she created was that of Martin Island-Linwood Lakes Regional Park.
“I really spent a lot of time on the details of those trees and I think it just gives a really kind of Minnesota vibe, I’d say,” she said.
The posters are $10 each and $75 for the set of eight, and are currently available for sale at the Bunker Hills Activities Center. They will also go on sale at individual campground offices when they open for the season later this spring.
Greenwell thinks the posters could make for great gifts, especially for those who decide to get married in a county park.
“How cool would that be to have as a wedding favor?” Greenwell said. “We have many weddings in the parks, and I mean, if I was married in the park, I would love to have one of these in my home.”
