The city of Winter Garden celebrated by cutting the ribbon on Tucker Ranch Holistic Health & Wellness Park and Botanical Garden on Friday, Oct. 23. The park offers activities for all ages, including guided tours, cooking lessons, and a playground.
After breaking ground on Aug. 23, 2024, the plan was to have Tucker Ranch and its amenities finished in two years with a $32 million budget. The city finished under budget at $31 million and created one of the nation’s first destinations that combines holistic wellness, environmental stewardship, and cultural history.
At the grand opening, Mayor John Rees opened the ceremony and thanked all involved in the project. He then turned the floor over to city manager John Williams, who played a key role in developing the park, alongside parks and recreation director Laura Koar. However, the creation of this park was inherited by former city manager Mike Bollhoefer and former economic developer Tanja Gerhartz.
“Mike and Tanja were early visionaries of the park once the city was able to gain ownership, but there were a lot of different concepts, a lot of different visions. They started finally settling on a vision, and it was done by the time that they both decided to retire,” Williams said. “The challenge was, how do Laura and I take that vision, reduce it to design, reduce it to construction, and then how it’s all going to translate in real life to see if it cohesively comes together.”
Tucker Ranch is 209 acres in size, with the Tucker Ranch Holistic Health & Wellness Park and Botanical Garden covering 25.8 acres. It features a 5,000-square-foot Retreat Center for classes and community programs, Edible Learning Gardens that teach practical home and community gardening techniques, and an outdoor demonstration kitchen for nutrition and culinary education. The site offers space for daily mindfulness activities that anyone could do on their own, such as walking through the botanical garden or visiting the Pond Pavilion. There’s also a canoe/kayak launch.
“When you look at all the different elements of the nodes, the landscaping, three-farm design, the work that this group has done,” Williams said. “It’s spectacular.”
The site is the former West Orange Country Club, but it also served as a World War II radar testing site known as Camp Kent. Following that, the Tucker family created Tucker’s Ranch Campground in 1969 as a multi-generational stewardship and preserved the land.
By combining holistic ideals with a recreational park, the impact differs from that of the average parks and recreation centers in many communities. Tucker Ranch Holistic Health & Wellness Park and Botanical Garden will focus on supported whole-person wellness, such as nutrition, fitness, mental health, and nature engagement.
“There are tons of studies on the advantages and benefits for mental health, exercise, and getting people up,” Koar said. “It’s not a hospital, and it will never feel institutional. It’ll be very interactive, and the primary mission is family wellness.”
During the ceremony, speakers explained that the park is for everyone. The park gathered many wellness and community partners, such as Advent Health, Orlando Health, Healthy West Orange, and Foundation for a Healthier West Orange.
“A lot of people have done bits and pieces, but nobody’s ever put it all together,” Koar said. “There will be people that come out here, and all they ever do is come out on a walk every day, or they come out in the morning for exercise. Maybe they only come to cooking classes, or they only come for other lectures. Everybody’s going to use the park differently.”
The soft opening of Tucker Ranch Holistic Health & Wellness Park and Botanical Garden will last until the end of the year, but it is still open daily. Their schedule from March through October will be 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, while November through February will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., both subject to evening programming and events. Leashed pets are allowed.
