special promotional section
Recreation
Creation
More than just a place for leisure, parks and facilities are being
used for greater economic development and giving residents a
higher quality of life in Lincoln, Rocklin and Roseville
by Steve Martarano
D
angling over a 60-foot-deep
granite pit, children and adults
zoom across a zip line cable
and scale and rappel down sheer stone
walls. The historical quarry, known as
the Big Gun Quarry, is 160 years old, and
has been repurposed to be Quarry Park
Adventures, a family-friendly, privately
owned adventure park in Rocklin. Next
to it is the similarly named Quarry Park,
which includes an amphitheater, as the
city’s public gathering spot. Called the
Quarry District, the parks are at the
center of Rocklin’s development plan,
with commercial and residential building
projects around it coming soon.
Like in Rocklin, the other Placer Valley
cities — Lincoln and Roseville — prize and
prioritize their park spaces and facilities in
their city planning efforts not just as plac-
es to recreate, but as places for economic
development, attracting residents and
businesses who want a quality of life that
comes with the benefits and advantages
of having these public spaces.
The Placer County cities of Lincoln,
Rocklin and Roseville were collectively
branded as Placer Valley in 2004 to high-
light the area’s collective amenities, says
Kim Summers, director of marketing for
Placer Valley Tourism. Over time, the area
grew and the combined population of the
three cities became 250,000.
“One of the great overall attractions
to the Placer Valley is its abundant access
to amazing outdoor activities,” says Rob
Haswell, CEO of the Placer County Visitors
Bureau. “We have so much to do within
Placer Valley and surrounding foothills
— it’s phenomenal and a great place for
families.”
Partnerships helped drive the con-
struction of a 160,000-square-foot Placer
Valley Events Center at the 60-acre Placer
County Fairgrounds site in Roseville. Taken
over by Placer Valley Tourism in July 2017
and renamed @the Grounds, it opened
in mid-February with site and building
renovations that cost around $13 million,
as well as the addition of a new $34 million
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