Roanoke City is offering a range of free family activities this summer, including the Freedom Festival and daily pop-up recreation at Washington Park.

ROANOKE, Va. – If you’re looking to get out and about, there’s a new local greenway available. The Read Mountain Greenway in Roanoke is a paved, .64 mile trail that starts on Blue Hills Drive. It’s been in the works since 2015 and will eventually connect to the Tinker Creek Greenway and Read Mountain Preserve. “It’s just designed to connect folks to the industrial area and then also a Roanoke County Park where they can do hiking and enjoy the outdoors without having to drive there necessarily,” said Roanoke Parks and Recreation Department Trails and Greenways Coordinator Renee Powers. The parks and recreation department hopes to add some amenities, such as wayfinding signs and a bench, to the greenway soon.

ROANOKE, Va. – Work to develop a popular Roanoke park is ahead of schedule. The parking lot has been paved, tennis courts have been added, and the new fields have been seeded at River’s Edge North Park. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department’s goal is to have the park ready to use for the Ironman race in June. "Once that’s completed, AEP will bring in the transformer and we’ll light it all up. That shouldn’t take more than 30 days from now.”After that, a final layer of asphalt will be put down and any remaining seeding will be done.