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Let the Meadow Grow

Letting The Meadow Grow: A New Natural Area at Valdese Lakeside Park At Valdese Lakeside Park, one mile into the park along the Outer Loop, there’s a wide open grassy area we call The Meadow. For years, this space was…

Twilight Tales on the Trail

🌙✨ Twilight Tales on the Trail Draws 200 for Night of Legends and Lore ✨🌙 Oh, what a night! The first-ever Twilight Tales on the Trail brought more than 200 guests to Valdese Lakeside Park on Thursday, October 30, for…

New Trail Opens

New Trail Opens at Valdese Lakeside Park A perfect fall Saturday morning brought out 28 hikers to celebrate the opening of a new section of trail at Valdese Lakeside Park. A fitting surprise for the event was the attendance of…

Lunch & Learn Grant

Lunch and Learn Receives Community Foundation Grant Support Friends of the Valdese Rec is proud to announce that we have received a $2,400 grant from the Community Foundation of Burke County (CFBC) to support our Lunch and Learn program —…

Great Trails State Day Challenge Met

Great Trails State Day 2025 – Miles of Fun, Fitness, and Fellowship! North Carolina’s official Great Trails State Day—celebrated each year on the third Saturday in October—was a huge success at Valdese Lakeside Park! From sunrise coffee and donuts to…

New Outer Loop Section

60 Different Volunteers – 376 Hours As part of the Valdese Lakeside Park Master Park Plan, FVR Volunteers have finished the Red Outer Loop Trail — relocating the existing trail off unsustainable logging road, separating a section where Hollipop Mountain…

Lake Rhodhiss Trailfest

Update: Thanks to Race Directors Mark and Ray, the October 11 Lake Rhodhiss Trailfest was a great success with 35 runners completing their chosen distance, Participants came from Valdese and all the way from Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Mooresville, and Hickory.  View…

10 Year Summary

Friends of the Valdese Rec (FVR) is proud to celebrate 10 years of serving the Valdese community! Since 2015, we’ve worked together to expand access to outdoor spaces, enhance community wellness, and create a stronger sense of belonging — all…

10 Years of Impact

A Thank You from President and Founder Beth Heile Ten years ago, I believed we could do something big. Something bold.Over time, you believed too. We believed this community deserved more — more access to the outdoors, more ways to…