of the town.” Open green spaces in Mount Laurel are key to its charm and small-town atmosphere; almost one-quarter of its land is either municipally owned or privately preserved. The township’s many parks offer recreational amenities to residents and visitors alike. Laurel Acres Park, is a 91-acre, award-winning park known for its Veterans Memorial, trout-stocked fishing lake, nature trails and jogging paths, playgrounds and ball fields (including the state-of-the-art Laurel Acres Baseball complex with eight fields), a dog run, and a grassy hill that features concerts in the summer, and snow sledding in the winter. Memorial Park features a beautiful garden dedicated to the soldiers and firefighters lost during 9/11, and four multi-use fields. Larchmont Park offers two basketball courts and six tennis courts, all of which have lights for night-time playing. The Laurel House, which serves as the town’s main community center, hosting various activities and events, has just added a pavilion and a playground complete with a rockclimbing wall. Other parks and facilities provide even more green space, playgrounds, playing fields, and pavilions for public use. YEAR-LONG COMMUNITY EVENTS Mount Laurel also offers its residents and visitors a plethora of community events and festivals. Its annual food truck festival, replete with pony rides, animal petting, face-painting, bounce houses, rides, and all manner of family-oriented activities, draws around 20,000 participants; the town hosts celebrations for Juneteenth, Ramadan, Christmas, and Chanukah; the local police department sponsors a camping event for kids on Memorial Day weekend; and, this year, a July 3rd fireworks event with food and music is being combined with an emergency management night that lets people ride in a police car, ambulance, and/ or fire truck. And of course, concerts and free movies are offered throughout the summer. “We’re the second biggest town in Burlington County,” cites Janjua, “but it still has that special, small-town feel. And I think our events are key to that feeling because we bring people together and there’s always things going on in town.And every year, we’re adding more and more things that benefit our residents.” 317 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 07 MOUNT LAUREL , NJ
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