There's a gaggle playing capture the flag, a set of patient parents pushing strollers, and noise. Lots of noise.

She smiles.

"It is so exciting to see all these people here - it's instant gratification," says Henderson, the director of Cary's Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Department. "I don't get to do this enough."

That'll change June 1, when she retires after 28 years of working for the town.

"This is just the right time for me," Henderson says. "I don't want to be working here 40 years and have everybody think 'Why is she still here?' "

She's been director for 15 years, colleagues say, because she's been a proven asset to the town. Henderson, 55, has helped Cary land on countless best-places-to-live lists, attracting the nation's best athletes and performing artists - and a few relocated Yankees - to the town each year.

She oversaw the creation of Koka Booth Amphitheatre, USA Baseball National Training Complex, Cary Tennis Park, three community centers, eight parks and 25 miles of greenway trails.

And she has made shrewd decisions about making way for more. Henderson coordinated the acquisition of more than 1,000 acres for parks, keeping pace with the town's rapid growth cycles and ensuring that where there were buildings, there were also open spaces.

She did it under four mayors and numerous council members. Many had very different ideas on how to grow. When Henderson joined Cary's staff in 1981, there were 21,000 people living in the town. Now there are about 140,000.

"She's been able to keep the small town atmosphere of the place," says Kay Struffolino, who has volunteered for the town for more than 20 years. "I don't know anyone else who could've done what she did."

The past two years have been particularly challenging because of the recession. Henderson has watched parks, greenways and arts projects get delayed or scrapped as the town has tried to cut costs.

"That requires flexibility and adaptability," she says.

She's patient, but make no mistake: Over the years, Henderson has learned how to present ideas for quality-of-life projects in ways that tout economic benefit. Her efforts have helped the town win numerous awards that put Cary in the national spotlight.

"She's as politically savvy as any politician," says Paul Seiler, director of USA Baseball.

Winning sports venues

USA Baseball moved their headquarters from Tuscon, Ariz., to Cary seven years ago largely because of Henderson.

The USA Baseball staff wanted to leave Tuscon but didn't have a sure-thing alternative. The group considered Atlanta, Aberdeen, Md., and two cities in Florida. And it liked the Triangle but didn't know where to play.

Henderson called Seiler offering to build a training complex within Thomas Brooks Park, which is now equipped with four baseball fields.

Henderson was hands-on. She served as the point person for the project at first. "She is so adept at understanding where all the moving parts are," Seiler says. "She is so smooth at understanding all the different perspectives from different groups of stakeholders."

In 2009, the USA Baseball National Training Complex generated just under $2 million in local revenues.

Other venues have also fared well. Cary Tennis Park brought in close to $1.3 million. Wake Med Soccer Park, which hosted the NCAA men's soccer final in the fall, helped bring in at least $2 million to area businesses. In 2008, Cary was named an NCAA Championship City, the smallest in a program that includes Indianapolis, Cleveland and St. Louis.

"The town has had a tremendous vision to brand the town as an amateur and collegiate sports mecca, and Mary has been a real star," said Scott Dupree, vice president of sports marketing at the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Some projects have had a more difficult time generating revenue. Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Henderson's first major project as director, hasn't made money since it opened in 2001. "Its financial position has improved every year, and our first goal would be to break even," she says. "We stay concerned about costs. But we're seeing an increase in use."

Champion of parks

Henderson fell into the career after simply loving sports and recreation - not because she was drawn to management.

As a graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Fayetteville native worked for the school's intramural sports program. She worked in Carrboro for three years before heading to Cary in 1981. "We had 5 or 6 people serving 21,000 people," she says. "When you're small, everyone does everything."

In 1995, she was named head of the department. At the time, the old model of government - long lines, red tape - was beginning to shift into a more customer service-oriented practice. "It's much more effective to not make it bureaucratic," she says. "Let's not throw up obstacles and say 'No, we can't do this.' Let's see what the community wants and see if we can do it."

Paying attention to residents led Henderson to rethink park design - one of her favorite aspects of the job. The town created a skate park and a dog park, and it added parks with connecting trails and open spaces - larger than the typical backyard.

"We want neighbors to go out and meet each other," she says, "and we want to build the spontaneous play areas that we had when I was a kid."

At the Kids Together Playground, that model is visible. Playground equipment was getting plenty of use, but even more kids were enjoying a game of tag among the surrounding trees."Before I was a mom, I didn't notice anything. But after, I started to bring back ideas for ways to improve them," she says, noting that weathered playground equipment drives her crazy.

Citizens consistently give her department high marks in the town's biennial citizen satisfaction survey.

But it can still be difficult to run what some would call a non-essential government agency - not one that manages money or protects the safety of the citizens.

Henderson, who speaks slowly, calmly, gets slightly defensive. "This is essential," she says emphatically. "This really does uplift people. People do want to live in Cary, so you want to make sure you take care of it."

Life after work

Henderson, a lean, athletic woman, still brings energy to the job, running on endorphins from daily exercise and handfuls of peanut M&Ms.

She announced her decision to retire in February. It was a difficult choice, she says. Her staff is family.

Cary will begin a national search for her replacement. The town hopes to have a new director by the summer.

Some think it will be hard to match her sense of humor, her drive.

"She does not fit the stereotype of a parks and rec director, you know, the guy with a clipboard and whistle around his neck," Seiler says.

Henderson is now making plans for life after work. It's strange to think about, she says. She met her second husband, Charlie Henderson, a former town attorney, through work.

But she's excited about spending more time with her children and grandchildren.

She and her husband are planning a few golf trips with friends. They're thinking about going back to France, their honeymoon spot seven years ago. "I'm nervous," she says. "But I don't think I'll have trouble finding anything to do."