Hillsborough will reopen Gold Park and Riverwalk to the public on Friday morning.

The park closed following flooding on Tuesday that carried debris and sediment onto the park’s greenway trails.

Since then, town clean up efforts have worked to collect debris and clear the trails in record time.

“We feel confident that the trail and park can be accessed by the public beginning Friday morning, but we hope that visitors use caution in any wet areas,” Hillsborough Public Space Manager Stephanie Trueblood said.

While most of the park has been cleaned up, floodwaters washed away the mulch in certain areas, such as from the Stickwork sculpture in Riverwalk, so parts of the park will remain muddy until next week when new mulch is installed.

Gold Park’s dog park will remain closed until further notice as a result of the damage that the flooding caused to the fence.

Since opening in April 2009, Gold Park has flooded three times, all within the past year — last October, April and this week. The dog park fence suffered damage in all three events.

“If we continue to get weather events like these, we may consider a redesign to the dog park,” said Trueblood. “The Parks and Recreation Board is aware of the issue and stands ready to explore other options for surfacing and fence design if warranted.”

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