Heritage Park Reopens in Downtown Denison After Years of Construction
Heritage Park in downtown Denison officially reopened Thursday evening after years of construction, unveiling a new stage, surround sound speakers, and a plaza.
By Austin Hedgcoth
Published: Oct. 16, 2026 at 5:31 AM GMT+2 | Updated: 2 hours ago
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DENISON, Texas (KXII) - Heritage Park in downtown Denison officially reopened on Thursday evening after years of construction, unveiling a new stage, surround sound speakers, and a walking plaza.
Derrick Roberts, owner of Pop Around the Corner located across from the stage, said the finished park is set to become a major draw for the area.
“I think this is gonna be a focal point that’s gonna make other towns jealous,” Roberts said.
Years of construction finally complete
The project brought years of road closures, demolition, and construction to downtown Denison.
Roberts said the disruption became a running joke among nearby business owners.
“We had yellow cones out. We had barriers up. You didn’t know what street was open and what street was closed. We actually started naming the cones because they had been outside for so long,” Roberts said.
Roberts said simply seeing the construction barriers gone felt significant.
“Just not having a gate outside this morning was crazy to see. Having the park being open, I can’t wait till this weekend to see kids playing in it, because that’s something we haven’t had in years now,” he said.
A downtown anchor
Donna Dow, Denison Main Street director, said the park serves as a central piece of downtown.
“It’s an anchor, and it’s the heart of our downtown, and that supports our downtown businesses. It draws more traffic to it,” Dow said.
Dow said the new sound system is a standout feature of the renovated park.
“We have state-of-the-art sound, and we’re very proud of it. We can’t wait to get it all adjusted, people are coming around at nighttime and listening to it,” Dow said.
Roberts said Pop Around the Corner moved to its current location in 2021 specifically because of the planned investment in Heritage Park.
“We actually moved to this location just so we could be closer to the park, because we saw the investment the city was going to put in the park, and we knew that we could open up our doors, we could turn on our poppers, and you could smell it, people will see it, and then they’ll want to come in here,” Roberts said.
Roberts said downtown Denison has changed significantly since his business first opened in 2015.
“It was a good town, but it was kind of a slower town. We had to start to have more traffic, more investors in the businesses, buildings started getting remodeled, and then it’s become what it is today,” he said.
Roberts said he expects the park’s new amenities to draw even more visitors downtown.
“I’m anxious to see how we’re gonna utilize the park with the movies and with the music and just with all the entertainment that we have. Denison has a lot to offer,” Roberts said.