10-acre downtown Lexington park near Rupp Arena will have free Wi-Fi

A 10-acre park in the center of downtown Lexington will have free wireless service when the park opens next year.

Kinetic, a fiber internet company, will install and sustain Wi-Fi modems and routers in the park enabling free internet for the next decade. The cost over that time period is about $1 million.

The park, Gatton Park at Town Branch, broke ground last year . It will be next to the Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena between Main and High streets and the Oliver Lewis Way bridge.

The park will feature a 4,500-capacity amphitheater, playground, water play, dog park, gardens, public art, cafe and portions of the Town Branch trail. The park is paid for through more than $52 million in private donations, including $14 million from the Bill Gatton Foundation.

Gatton, a University of Kentucky graduate, has given sizable donations to UK and other Lexington organizations, including the YMCA of Central Kentucky. Gatton died in 2022.

Gatton Park Executive Director Alison Lankford said free Wi-Fi will allow the park to be a next-century park.

“Free Wi-Fi access is something people now expect as a standard part of the living experience wherever they go—and this will soon include Gatton Park,” Lankford said. “This infrastructure will help people connect and share experiences, whether they’re schoolchildren learning about ecology or festival goers or concertgoers enjoying performing arts and other cultural experiences.”

Kinetic Operations Senior Vice President Barry Bishop said the Wi-Fi will help up the park’s programming.

“In addition to Wi-Fi, visitors to the park will be able to learn through their cellphone or tablet about the park’s amenities, programs and ecology, or get directions to play areas, bike racks or interactive water features,” Bishop said. “Park visitors will be able to find the fastest route around the park or sit and enjoy their Wi-Fi enabled devices.”

Gatton Park is scheduled to open in the summer of 2025.