recreation news

New 5-mile mountain bike trail gets rolling through woods and prairies of Denton

Person riding a bike through Marion Sansom Park

There'll soon be a new place to do this.

Photo courtesy of Fort Worth Mountain Bikers' Association

A 240-acre mountain biking space is under way in Denton, on the Hartlee Field Property next to the Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center.

The city's first official mountain biking area, it will consist of five to seven miles of trails running through hills, woods, flat spaces, and open prairies, city officials say. There are two small stock ponds on the property, as well.

It's part of a Denton city initiative to make sure there are bicycle trails all over town, connecting the lakes, the greenbelt, and major thoroughfares. Currently, there are more than 200 bike trails throughout the city, but the plan is to eventually double this number.

Drew Huffman, Denton assistant director of Parks & Recreation over Operations and Planning, says the Hartlee Field Property is the perfect location for mountain biking trails, but not just because of the varied terrain. The land has been sitting there largely unused used for decades.

“The Waste Water Department bought the property in the mid-’90s for a future waste water treatment plant,” he says. “Through their master planning, they decided that a treatment plant may be necessary, but it may not be necessary for 10 to 40 years. Or, it may never need to be built. Or, it may need to be just 30 or 40 acres, not 240 acres.”

Huffman says he used to work in the Waste Water Department and knew about the property all along.

“As soon as I moved over to the parks department, we worked on a memorandum of understanding to use the property for mountain biking trails,” he says. “If they’re not going to use all of it for what it was originally planned for, a mountain bike course would be great to put there. If a treatment plant is ever needed, the trails could go around it, and a fence could be built to keep people out.”

The bulk of the construction of the mountain bike trails will be done by local residents.

“We’ve had a lot of interest by volunteers to help with this project,” Huffman said. “Over 130 volunteers have signed up to help build the trails. They are raising awareness, posting signs, trimming brush, marking and planning where the trails will go, and installing trails,” using such hand tools as pruners, hand saws, shovels, and loppers.

“The volunteers are really excited,” Huffman says.

They hope to finish the project by December 2021, he says — or earlier.

parks sports

put it on santa's amex

Well-to-do Dallas suburb lands on top-10 list of holiday big spenders

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

Flower Mound residents have the No. 7 biggest holiday budgets in the U.S. for 2024.

It looks like Santa Claus is going to be competing with residents in Flower Mound to see who brings the most lavish holiday gifts this year.

Festive Flo-Mo ranked No. 7 in WalletHub's annual report on U.S. cities with the biggest holiday budgets in 2024.

Residents in this well-to-do Dallas suburb are expected to spend $3,541 on their Christmas gifts this year. But tsk-tsk: That's down $56 from the $3,485 they were ready to drop in the 2023 ranking — bumping them down two spots from their previous ranking at No. 5.

The U.S. Census Bureau says that Flower Mound's estimated population of 79,445 had a median household income of $154,471 in 2023. No wonder they have the extra cash to spare.

Flower Mound consistently makes the list of the top 10 U.S. cities with the biggest holiday spenders, outshining its nearby neighbor Frisco, which took a precarious drop this year from their previous high ranking of No. 3 in 2023.

They've now fallen off the top-10 list altogether. The average holiday budget in Frisco is still an exorbitant amount – $3,412 – but that only garnered the city No. 11 in the overall ranking out of 558 U.S. cities. You gotta spend to stay on top.

The No. 1 city in the U.S. for biggest holiday spenders in 2024 is Newton, Massachusetts, a wealthy suburb right outside of Boston, where the median income measured in 2022 was $176,373. Slots 2 through 5 were all cities in California's Silicon Valley: Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Milpitas.

Seven additional North Texas cities landed in this year's top 100 biggest holiday budgets, including:

No. 18 – Allen ($3,070)
No. 32 – Plano ($2,658)
No. 45 – North Richland Hills ($2,484)
No. 52 – McKinney ($2,386)
No. 76 – Richardson ($1,980)
No. 81 – Carrollton ($1,932)
No. 92 – Lewisville ($1,848)

Meanwhile, Dallas landed at No. 213 this year with an average holiday budget of $1,406, and Fort Worth ranked No. 359 with a budget of $1,082.

Each year, WalletHub calculates the maximum holiday budget for over 550 U.S. cities "to help consumers avoid post-holiday regret," the website says. The study factors in income, age of the population, and other financial indicators such as debt-to-income ratio, monthly-income-to monthly-expenses ratio, and savings-to-monthly-expenses ratio.

Whether a Dallasite's holiday budget is under $200 or more than $1,000, it's better to prioritize remaining within that budget instead of racking up the credit card bill, according to WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.

"There are plenty of ways to enjoy the holidays and show you care without spending much money, like hosting potlucks or giving handmade gifts," said Lupo.

Other Texas cities that made it into the top 100 are:

No. 13 – The Woodlands ($3,395)
No. 15 – Sugar Land ($3,214)
No. 23 – Cedar Park ($2,930)
No. 25 – League City ($2,897)
No. 39 – Round Rock ($2,538)
No. 60 – Pearland ($2,223)
No. 87 – Austin ($1,905)

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