Despite her years of planning and preparation for a landmark expansion project, Jen Andrews failed to anticipate one activity that would become highly popular at revamped Shelby Farms Park:

Stone-skipping.

Visitors, especially kids, pick up so many stones from the rip-rap-lined banks and send them skipping across Hyde Lake that the park staff has had to bring in more rock to fill in bare spots. Not that Andrews minds.

"I'm OK with it," said the executive director of Shelby Farms Park Conservancy. "There's no way to regulate it, and it's another way for people to enjoy the park."

Heart of the Park

It was a year ago Friday that the conservancy formally unveiled one of the largest recreational projects in Memphis history. The $52 million "Heart of the Park" initiative saw the enlargement and improvement of Hyde Lake (formerly Patriot Lake), the planting of thousands of trees, construction of a spacious new visitors center, an events complex connected to a high-end restaurant, pavilions, a lakeside events stage and boathouse, as well as rental facilities for bikes, boats and paddle boar

Coupled with previous improvements that included a pedestrian bridge over the Wolf River and an adventure playground, Heart of the Park increased the amount invested in Shelby Farms since 2010 to some $70 million. The majority of that money came from private sources — philanthropies, donations, corporate sponsorships, conservancy memberships and special events.

During the year since the grand opening, attendance at the park has "easily doubled" from the 2 million or so figure from previous years, Andrews says, although no precise figures are available. More than 800,000 vehicles have entered through Gate 1 alone, not to mention the entrances off Mullins Station, Walnut Grove, the Shelby Farms Greenline and elswhere.

So popular is the park that on most weekends, staff has had to direct some cars to overflow parking areas on a grassy slope north of the First Tennessee Foundation Visitor Center.

"There rarely are even slow times of the day," Andrews said.

A place to escape

On a cloudy weekday, several visitors could be seen strolling on the promenade, the broad 2.34-mile walkway around Hyde Lake.

"It's very medicinal for me to come out and walk and clear my mind," said Shannon Coleman, a Memphian who works in real estate but makes it to Shelby Farms almost daily.

Coleman said she enjoys the lakes, trees and wildlife of the park, as well as its safety and central location.

Another regular visitor, Sylvester Puryear, sat beneath the giant fans on the porch of the visitors center.

"The scenery is nice, the sunsets are nice when you sit out here," said Puryear, who works weekends but walks and rides his bike four days a week at Shelby Farms.

More visitors means more maintenance

Many of the park visitors are spending money, too. Nearly 9,000 boats and other watercraft have been rented on Hyde Lake, and The Kitchen Bistro had served 64,000 customers through mid-August.

The park's use is expected to increase this fall as it hosts several events. One of the largest will be a music festival slated for Oct. 6-7 that's expected to attract up to 10,000 or so people.

But if the park's attendance has doubled, so has its budget. The conservancy now spends $5.1 million a year — up from about $2.5 million — to operate and maintain the park. The conservancy staff has grown to about 45 full-time employees, with a similar number of seasonal workers hired during the summer.

For now, donations and reserves from the capital campaign for the expansion project are helping cover the increased costs. Earned revenue, from facility rentals and other sources, accounts for about 58 percent of the budget, but that's expected to increase.

"The goal of Heart of the Park is to increase the part of the pie that's generated by earned revenue," Andrews said.

Already, the FedEx Event Center has hosted 300 events, many of them board meetings for corporations. The expanded park also has been the site of 18 weddings.

A 2014 study completed for the conservancy estimated that the park expansion and improvements would boost its annual economic impact from $6.85 million to $13.58 million, including park operations, visitor spending and commercial activity.

Andrews, who was promoted to the top conservancy post with the retirement last year of Laura Morris, oversees a domain of 3,200 acres within the 4,500 acre Shelby Farms complex that lies between the Wolf River and Germantown Parkway near the eastern edge of Memphis. That 3,200 acres includes the parkland situated around Hyde Lake, which was expanded from 55 to 80 acres, as well as upland areas just to the north and east and the Lucius Burch Jr. State Natural Area along the Wolf.

As ambitious as the park improvements were, they represented just the first phase of a 2008 master plan for Shelby Farms. Eventually, other landscape improvements and amenities will be added.

But Andrews, whose office overlooks Hyde Lake, says the most profound improvements to the park will come naturally, as trees grow and landscapes mature.

"It'll continue to get better," she said.

Reach Tom Charlier at thomas.charlier@commercialappeal.com or 901-529-2572 and on Twitter at @thomasrcharlier.