The Bend Park & Recreation District recently appointed two new members to its board following vacancies.

There were seven finalists vying for the important job representing community members and a simple question was included as part of their interview — what is your favorite park?

I was expecting to hear about the deep history and love for the original parks: Drake Park and Shevlin Park. They didn’t come up even once, but I know they are favorites too. Instead, several applicants shared their affinity for Pine Nursery Park, with similar reasons behind their pick.

Pine Nursery Park is the large 159-acre community park at 750 NE Purcell Blvd., in northeast Bend.

The park includes a sports complex for field sports, natural areas, fishing pond, fitness trails, disc golf course, paved trails, a 14-acre off-leash area for dogs, all-abilities playground, pickleball courts, sand volleyball courts, turf soccer fields and room for future expansion.

In a nutshell, the board applicants and others love Pine Nursery because it’s balanced with opportunities for different types of use and big enough that it can be alive with activity concurrently. You can visit any day of the week, from early morning to evening, and find friends, family and neighbors enjoying it.

As my colleague recently put it, “I enjoy walking with my dog on Pine Nursery Park’s paved paths and taking in all the sights, sounds and activities: fishing in the pond, giggling on the playground, happy yaps in the dog park, paddles poppin’ on the pickleball courts, disc golfers throwing over lava outcroppings and cyclists, runners and strollers cruising the path with me while the sun goes down behind the Cascades. It’s a huge park with nice, wide paths so you can find your own space and way to play.”

I recently visited the off-leash area with my new rescue dog. This is not just any off-leash area. It is Disneyland for four-legged friends. It boasts natural areas, meandering paths and big field areas that are fenced. While it is my duty to emphasize our important rules for dogs and their owners, including keeping the leash attached when you’re entering or exiting the dog park, Pine Nursery makes such an impression that my dog can now tell that we’re getting close when we haven’t entered the parking lot yet.

Organized sports for teams and individuals are well-suited for Pine Nursery and pack a year-round schedule. Soccer, ultimate frisbee, softball, lacrosse and sand volleyball are offered seasonally by BPRD and others. The disc golf course is a gem too. Year-round, it is a popular destination with newcomers and experienced players.

No description of Pine Nursery Park is complete without talking about pickleball. The 16 courts are hard-working with courts 1-4 open to the public at all times, except during specified tournament dates. Courts 5-16 are reserved for Bend Pickleball Club organized play. It seems the rest of the country has caught the fever for the sport that Bend welcomed ahead of the curve.

Pine Nursery Park even finds its way into important milestones: A community member’s first post of the new year was a beautiful photo of playing pickleball with friends. That is a great honor to be part of someone’s healthy habits, especially with friends (or competitive rivals).

As far as New Year’s resolutions go, I like the simplicity of committing to visit Pine Nursery Park more often with my dog. It is something I can stick to.