In the spring and summer, disc golf dominates Hudson Springs Park’s offerings, bringing in players as it has since its course opened in 1986.
Though immensely popular with local disc golfers — enough to start a local disc golf league and tournaments — this hotspot has one downside, one that I realize early on in my morning game, as my tennis shoe squelches out of a mud pit.
“Hudson Springs is also known as ‘Mudson Springs,’” says Michael Haney, the director of Hudson’s disc golf league. “There is just so much water in that area. There’s not a whole lot to do other than just kind of accept that your shoes are going to come out a little bit browner than you started, to have a good time with it.”
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Haney started playing the sport with his brother at this lake-centric park, with a large watershed that
affects some grassy areas. Haney assures me that league organizers are working with the park to develop solutions, like adding platforms and bridges in the most watery areas.
I ditch my dewy (but fun) game after eight holes, missing out on the back, more challenging, half of the course. Then, I opt to hike around the lake: a 1.8-mile retreat into spring in this outdoorsy hotspot.
Beyond the disc golf and trail, the park has a lot to offer: a set of permanent concrete cornhole boards, a bocce ball court, a stack of canoes and kayaks and a playground. A sign notes that ice fishing is allowed in the winter.
Of course, there’s no ice fishing on this sunny April day in Hudson. But there are plenty of people getting outside, biking and jogging around this park — and the city beyond.
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Brent Forrer, who lives on the Northeast side of town, biked two of his kids — a third grader and a sixth grader — to school, before arriving at All Around Cyclery for his workday. He’s owned the shop since 2015, and he and his family moved to Hudson in 2016.
Forrer sees the town shifting toward better bikeability and pedestrian access. Road bike lanes and sidewalks are newly installed on most of Hudson’s main streets and tertiary roads. “Everyone makes the joke about Hudson being a bubble, and it’s honestly true,” Forrer says. “The kids can ride their bikes to school, can walk downtown after school. I grew up in a small town in rural Ohio, and this doesn’t feel that much different than that. We love it.”
City planners here focus on walkability — as do local businesses. In 2020, Hudson established its Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area in the town’s First & Main area and surrounding streets: a boon for the area’s robust programming.
There’s an emphasis on all things local in this corner of Summit County. Next door to All Around Cyclery, the budding Evaporator Works development also hosts Good Grief (which slings up filling, flavorful breakfast burritos and sammies), Heartwood Coffee (which features a snazzy, light-filled expansion) and, most recently, Nona’s Confectionery, a shop centered around the small-batch chocolate-making. Hudson residents Ken and Jessie Obert opened the shop in March.
Jessie, a lifelong Hudson resident, also works as a real estate agent in town. “Since I was a teenager, we haven’t grown that much by population, but I do feel that there are so many more community and family events, and things for kids to do,” Jessie says. “There’s not a weekend that goes by that one of my kids is not playing pickleball, or at the entrance to a park — and that’s great. They don’t have to go very far to go and do things with their friends.”
Hudson also offers spaces for quiet and calm. By midday, I wanted to experience what’s inevitably one of my favorite parts of any town or city: the library.
A public library says a lot about its location, and Hudson’s is downright impressive. Upon walking inside you’ll immediately see the Friends of the Hudson Library’s bookstore, selling used books on the cheap. Then you’ll head into the stunning rotunda, a large room with floor-to-ceiling windows, a dome with skylights overhead and a curving staircase that leads to a quiet second level.
Hudson’s library isn’t tucked away into a quiet area: It’s right front of First & Main, one of the most happening parts of town. The shopping center hosts a Summer Music Night concert series, along with family-friendly activities, holiday walks, 5K runs and more.
This is also where a ton of Hudson’s trendier restaurant and shopping options reside. I order a mushroom pie and a salad from 3 Palms Pizzeria, and take it, to-go, to Cascade Park, where I find a picnic table to devour my meal.
I end the day much like I started it, minus the mud: in Hudson’s beautiful nature, where nearly everyone I pass by gives a wave or a ‘hello.’ It’s not hard to get around, and it doesn’t take too long to start to feel at home here.
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