If you are on Main Street and feel the need to ask a local about the location of the Red River Conference Center, chances are they will give directions by saying that it’s located between the Red River and Brandenburg Park. They may even say it’s on River Street.
They are operating on the premise that if you drive down Main Street and don’t see the big building by the river, you surely can’t miss Brandenburg Park. It’s directly across the street from Krista Brandenburg’s Gold Nugget Gift Shop. It is, to use a colloquial expression heard most in vintage cowboy movies, “smack dab” in the heart of town. Brandenburg Park is named for the Brandenburg family that settled in Red River when the town was founded in 1895. The family still lives in town.
There are four parks within the town limits of Red River and three of them are on the banks of the river. There is a Parks and Recreation Committee which serves as a citizen advisory board for the incorporated Town of Red River.
Mallette Park, located on the banks of Mallette Creek at the mouth of Mallette Canyon and accessible from Mallette Road, is named for the pioneering family that spent the winter of 1894 in the valley before there was a town. It has chipmunks and ground squirrels, a great nature path by the stream, a tall rock face perfect for climbing (no acrophobics, please!), a challenging disc golf course, nifty modern playground equipment for kids, a tennis court, a skateboard park, a basketball court and a sandy volleyball court. There’s also picnic tables, some benches, a small shelter building and a few old mines, including… the Brandenburg mine!
Toni Woerndle Park, located next to the Conference Center on the river, is named for Toni Woerndle, German-born skiing ace who headed up the first Ski School at the Red River Ski Area in 1959-60.
The Softball Field/Park is… a place to play softball. Or soccer. Or jog. It’s located on the site of the old Red River Rodeo Grounds, next to the helipad on the west side of town. It would be cumbersome to call it Softball-Soccer-Joggers, Ex-Rodeo Grounds Park. Someday it may carry the name of a local mover and shaker.