Editor's note: This column was first published March 17, 2014.

Sometimes you have to be proud of your community. This is one of those times.

Cascades Park opened. It's amazing.

The amazing part is not so much what's there — which is a bunch of stuff. It's amazing because it exists. In Tallahassee.

Some of us came here 40, 50 years ago, when there wasn't much to Tallahassee. Oh, we had natural beauty, good universities and great people. But what did we have for parks or buildings or sophisticated amenities?

The Chain of Parks was cool, if plain Jane. We had the seven-story Exchange Building for a "skyscraper," though it quit being a center of commerce in the 1970s. When visitors came, where could we take them? Maclay Gardens, if they liked flowers, and Wakulla Springs, if they were willing to drive 25 miles. We had bumpy, two-laned roads, and many areas flooded every time there was a heavy rain.

There was very little in Tallahassee you could call big-city or sophisticated. We dreamed about big projects, but we didn't build big projects.

Eventually, we built some dreams. Kleman Plaza. Blair Stone Road. Gaines Street renovations. Several condos, two downtown hotels. A bunch of road widening, housing developments and restaurants.

All of them improved Tallahassee. Kleman Plaza, Blair Stone and Gaines Street have been game-changers.

But none of them ranks with Cascades Park. None matches Cascades Park for its variety of attractions. Cascades Park is ambitious.

An amphitheater for outdoor concerts, with space for more than 3,000 spectators. An interactive fountain that does 8-minute music and light shows. The Discovery Garden, where children can climb rocks and play in sand. A Smoky Hollow tribute that is half-history, half-art and a welcome acknowledgment of a lost community. A waterfall, 2.4 miles of a walking track. Historic markers, the Korean War Memorial. An eventual tribute to Centennial Field. Benches, trees, plants, flowers.

Officials say the park will produce economic development. They say it will encourage new businesses to spring up around the park. They say the amphitheater will draw visitors from out of town, who will buy tickets, stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants and shop in our stores.

It's not Disney World. But it's more than "Lake Ella on steroids," as one wag put it.

Not to say everything is going to be smooth sailing.

Though officials keep saying it, lots of people won't get that it's a "stormwater facility disguised as a world class park" until the first truly big rains fill its 32 million gallon capacity. Water will cover the amphitheater stage and come within 10 feet of the former electric building. Engineers say that water will drain in three hours. But you can bet there will be shock and complaints before it does.

Some local nearby businessmen are upset the city is helping pay for the restoration of the old electric building then renting it to a private restaurateur. They object to plans to welcome food trucks. They say that city-sponsored competition doesn't do them any good.

Many residents are still wary of the noise impacts on their Myers Park, Woodlands Drive and other neighborhoods. Though maybe they don't have to worry: Thursday's preview event, like Friday's opening, proved you can't hear a darn thing when trains go by. Plus some of us had difficulty hearing anything at the edges of the stage.

And what about the ticket prices announced for the first concerts? $45 to $70 tickets to sit outside for Charlie Wilson? Not many people are going to sit on blankets for that.

Still, you have to be proud that Tallahassee actually built one of its dreams.

Thirteen years ago, the majority of voters recognized the wisdom of an extra penny sales tax to fund infrastructure projects.

They passed the measure that created Blueprint 2000, a city-county agency that has used the tax to widen our roads, improve our stormwater drainage, save sensitive lands, remodel Franklin Boulevard and build Cascades Park.

Always, this town has had big dreams that never got off the dime. Over the past 13 years, we've gotten off the dime.

Cascades Park took longer than 13 years.

Cascades Park was first broached in 1971. The state built a half-size version in 1978. That park closed in 1989 when soil contamination was discovered.

It took until 2006 for federal, state and city forces to remove the contamination and deed the park to the city. In 2010, construction started — and completion was advertised as a couple years away. It turned out to be four years.

But the four years allowed officials to add things that were needed (Smoky Hollow tribute), eliminate things that weren't (a grand entrance from South Monroe Street) and adjust things for effect and cost (the history panels on brick posts, rather than an iron fence, along Meridian Street). It allowed Blueprint 2000 to assemble committees of citizens to help them plan.

And Blueprint brought home the project for $30 million — when it was originally estimated to cost $35 million.

"Yes, it took a long time. But look what we got," said Wayne Tedder, director of Blueprint 2000. "We did it the right way. We got the community involved, we used the sales tax the way voters wanted us to.

"It was worth the wait."

It certainly was.

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