Myers Park blends history, gardens and events in Collin County

Myers Park & Event Center is one of Collin County’s most useful public spaces because it can host a horse show, a wedding, a museum visit and a master gardener program without changing addresses. Set on 158 acres northwest of McKinney along County Road 166, the property combines donated family land, county-purchased acreage and a mix of barns, gardens and event rooms that serve residents in very different ways.

A county park built for more than scenery

The park began in 1969 as the Collin County Youth Park after John and Winnie Myers donated acreage for public use. County policy documents say the land is a combination of the Myers family donation and additional acreage purchased with 1999 county bond funds, which is why the park today functions as a long-term county asset rather than a single-purpose venue.

Collin County describes the site as more than 158 acres of preserved natural beauty, award-winning gardens and scenic countryside. That mix gives it a broader public role than a typical park in a growing suburban county: it is a place for outdoor recreation, but also for education, private rentals and large public gatherings.

Where livestock, weddings and events all fit

The activity list at Myers Park is unusually broad. The county includes livestock shows, scouting events, museum tours, dog shows, trade shows, weddings, business events, garden tours, seminars, camps, receptions and motor sports among the uses the park supports.

Two buildings anchor much of that activity. The Show Barn is a 57,000-square-foot multipurpose building with an open floor plan and a 90-by-180-foot main arena, plus concessions, restrooms and parking. The Stall Barn adds another layer of utility with 150 horse stalls and an indoor warm-up area, which helps explain why the park remains important to the county’s agricultural and equestrian community as well as to event planners.

That range matters for locals because it means one county property can serve families planning ceremonies, exhibitors moving animals, schools organizing outings and civic groups looking for a place large enough to gather. It is one of the clearest examples in Collin County of a public site designed to work for several audiences at once.

The gardens are also a research site

Myers Park’s gardens are not just decorative. In 2008, the Collin County Commissioner’s Court approved a request from the Collin County AgriLife Extension Service, the Collin County Master Gardeners Association and Myers Park and Event Center to create the first-ever Earth-Kind perennial plant research center at the site.

The work followed in 2009, when Dr. Greg Church and a team of Master Gardeners began developing the perennial research garden to identify native and adapted perennial plants that do well in Collin County. The Master Gardeners later described the site as the first-ever Earth-Kind perennial plant and research garden, and one of the practical results has been the identification of numerous drought-tolerant plants.

That research role makes the park especially valuable in a county where home gardening, water-wise landscaping and plant education matter to both new homeowners and longtime residents. Judy Florence, the park manager, has called the partnership a “win-win” for the groups and the community, and the phrase fits the way the garden space functions: part research plot, part teaching tool and part destination for visitors who want to see what grows well here.

The farm museum ties the park to local history

The Collin County Farm Museum gives Myers Park a strong heritage identity. The museum says it helps people learn about and appreciate the county’s rural history from the first settlers through the 1960s, making it an important stop for families, students and anyone trying to understand how Collin County changed from farm country to fast-growing suburbia.

The museum occupies 8,528 square feet in the Wells Building, and artifacts are also placed around the park, including the Windmill, the Granary and the Confinement House. That arrangement turns the grounds themselves into part of the exhibit, so a visit to the park can include both a formal museum stop and a walk past historic agricultural structures.

How locals can use it now

Myers Park works best when you think of it as a county campus rather than a single attraction. If you are planning a wedding, the park offers ceremony sites that include a Victorian gazebo on the pond, Wells Bridge, the Perennial Garden and The Landing, which features an Austin Stone fireplace.

If you are connected to youth agriculture, the park is already part of the calendar. The Collin County Junior Livestock Show Association holds meetings at Myers Park & Event Center, and a 2026 Junior Livestock Show listing places the event there from Jan. 3-9, bringing together youth exhibitors, families and buyers. That keeps the park tied to 4-H and FFA culture, not just to private rentals or weekend visitors.

If you are a gardener, the Master Gardener partnership gives the park a different kind of value. Its perennial research beds make it a practical place to see drought-tolerant and adapted plants in a setting shaped by local conditions. If you are interested in history, the museum and outbuildings give you a compact way to trace the county’s rural roots. If you are organizing a large gathering, the barns and banquet spaces make the site flexible enough to handle it.

The advisory board’s stated responsibility is to promote education and recreation as laid out in the Myers family deeds of trust, and that instruction still defines how the park functions today. Myers Park remains one of Collin County’s strongest examples of a public space that keeps doing several jobs at once: preserving land, hosting events, teaching agriculture, interpreting history and giving residents a place that can adapt to the next use on the calendar.