Quality of life is a key factor for any city.  Garland residents are a hard-working lot, but they have access to countless opportunities to expand their cultural horizons, broaden their minds, and simply play. 
 
The City of Garland is home to award-winning recreation facilities and more than 2,500 acres of park land.  The city also owns a state-of-the-art 63-hole golf facility, which will host players from across the nation this spring for U.S. Open qualifying. 
 
On the cultural side, the Patty Granville Arts Center has just opened its newest facilities:  the Atrium banquet facility, and an additional 8,000 square feet in the Performing Arts facility which includes a huge, glass-lined lobby, a new box office and additional dressing rooms and scene shop space.  
 
The Nicholson Memorial Library System is anchored by the Central Library in downtown Garland and includes four neighborhood branch libraries, where citizens can access more than 430,000 books, as well as popular magazines, newspapers, videotapes and audio recordings.  Each library provides public access computers and software and Internet access.  Remote users can access the Library’s catalog and subscription information resources.