HOUSTON — Memorial Park hosted “The Biggest Picnic in Texas” Saturday for the official grand opening of the Kinder Land Bridge and Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Prairie.
The community was invited to come and experience the new 100-acre space.
"It's great to see all the people, great to see all the people going to be a lot of fun right?" said Houstonian Matt Thomas.
Thousands showed up to the grand opening. The project has been years in the making.
Shelly Arnold, the presidnet of the Memorial Park Conservancy, said the 100-acre project was finished just in time for the park's 100th anniversary in 2024, thanks to a large donation from the Kinder Foundation.
"We created a really wonderful amenity for Houstonians fun hills, fun views sunset sunrises uptown downtown picnic areas," Arnold said.
Saturday's picnic featured baskets full of items from H-E-B.
What is the land bridge?
Reporter Jason Miles was at the ribbon cutting for the land bridge on Friday. The bridge will feature man-made hills that rise 40 feet above Memorial Drive and are expected to help people and wildlife easily explore Houston’s largest urban park.
"We only broke ground on this project in August of 2020," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. "Look where we are now.”
Turner and many others had the ceremonial ribbon cutting Friday atop the new land bridge where views include downtown Houston in one direction and uptown Houston in the other.
The Land Bridge and Prairie project is part of the Memorial Park Master Plan.