CROTHERSVILLE
Since improvements have been made at Crothersville’s two parks, more people have been seen in those areas.
With upgrades continuing at Bard Street Park and Countryside Park, the town’s parks board expects to see their use keep increasing.
The town council recently agreed to allow the parks board to spend about $7,000 to install five new pieces of playground equipment at Bard Street Park. The council also approved $1,750 to be used to fix up the concession stand at Countryside Park. The requests were required because they exceeded $500.
The money for both projects will come from the parks board budget, which is $7,000 annually. That board conducted a few fundraisers last year with plans to put the money toward the purchase of playground equipment.
The five council members approved the two requests because the improvements are drawing more people — town residents and out-of-towners — to the parks.
“I drove by the other day when the weather was really nice, and there were people racing cars, there were people flying kites,” Councilman Chad Wilson said. “I have a sixth-grade PE class, and we go out there when the weather is nice, and the kids love it. It’s just awesome to see the activity at the park.”
Councilman Bob Lyttle said the parks went nearly 20 years without much use, and he has seen that change with the improvements made in the past year.
“I think they are doing a wonderful job,” he said of the five parks board members. “Everybody has pitched in, and the equipment looks good.”
The new playground equipment will include a merry-go-round, a quad climber, a seesaw, a T swing and a freestanding log roll.
Parks board member Christopher Cooper said that equipment costs $6,356, and the extra money requested would be used for concrete or sand that might need to be placed around the equipment.
The most recent addition to Bard Street Park is a remote-control vehicle race track, which town employees created.
Other improvements made last year at that park include a sign, a couple of play structures, volleyball and soccer nets, a flagpole and some wooden benches. Also, picnic tables in the shelter house were cleaned and repaired, grills were placed, the basketball court was resurfaced and the exterior of a building that used to house restrooms was painted and the inside was cleared for a new parks office and storage space.
At Countryside Park, the repairs for the concession stand cost $1,720.30, and the extra money was requested to use for supplies. Cooper said parks board members and family members will provide the labor for the project.
Once the parks board was re-established at the beginning of 2016, its attention turned to Countryside Park.
During a couple of work days there, volunteers helped clean up the park, spread gravel, repair and clean bleachers, clean dugouts, mend fences and mow grass.
Since then, a picnic area with horseshoe pits, a children’s playhouse and picnic tables have been added, and town employees made a walking trail through the woods for the public and local sports teams to use. Some improvements also were made to lighting, the concession stand building and restrooms.
The parks board then began working on Bard Street Park.