OKEECHOBEE — Zachary Taylor Waterfront RV Resort in Okeechobee has won a Best Park Award from the Florida RV Park and Campground Association.

The park won the award in the medium size category for parks with 151 to 300 sites.

The 210-site park features a half mile of water frontage along Taylor Creek, a tributary to Lake Okeechobee, and offers both canoe and kayak rentals as well as pontoon and bass boat rentals for fishing. Park amenities include a lighted 100-foot fishing pier, new fitness center and planned activities.

“We are thrilled to receive this recognition,” said Gary Wright, who has managed Zachary Taylor Waterfront RV Resort with his wife, Diana, on behalf of the new owner for nearly six years.

Best Park Award recipients must have standards for their business, their staff and the way they treat their customers, all of which should be reflected in the park’s reviews and ratings. Award-winning parks must also be well maintained, feature quality facilities, amenities, and guest services, and demonstrate a track record of guest satisfaction and increased occupancy. These parks must also show the implementation and use of new technology or innovations or recently completed updates or improvements that enhance the park and the guest experience.

Wright said the campground was built in the 1970s and had operated for decades as a fish camp with primitive campsites and few amenities aside from a swimming pool. But when the new owner purchased the campground in 2016, they transformed it into a modern RV resort with close to $850,000 in improvements over the past four and a half years, he said.

“A lot of sweat and hard work has been put into this park to make it where it is today,” Wright said.

The improvements include upgrading RV utility connections to 50 amp electrical service and reconfiguring numerous campsites so that they can accommodate big rigs.

“We upgraded everything and we made larger pull through sites,” Wright said, adding that the aesthetics of the park were also improved with new landscaping, including the planting of 35 foxtail palms, fruit trees and flowers. “We gave it Key West-style greenery,” he said.

The new owner also built a new bathhouse with en suite bathrooms, a new fitness center and all new laundry facilities, each housed in separate buildings. Screened pickleball courts and an outdoor entertainment pavilion were also installed.

While it continues to cater to snowbirds during the winter months, some of whom invite their grandchildren to visit, many families from the east and west coasts of Florida visit the park during the summer months.

Park occupancies have rocketed as a result of the new owners’ investments in improvements and amenities.

At the time of this writing, Zachary Taylor Waterfront RV Resort was already fully booked for next winter with 50 people on the park’s waiting list. The park continues to have more availability during the summer months, but it’s getting busier, Wright said, adding that the campground has 12 cabin rentals in addition to RV sites.