Mixed feedback on July 4 fireworks held at sports park

Some of the reviews are in, and they are decidedly mixed on the possibility of continuing the annual Fourth of July celebration at Big Walnut Sports Park.

With the fireworks and all staged there last month because of the ongoing construction at Robe-Ann, Park Board members asked about feedback on the relocation during the August Park Board meeting. Both positive and negative feedback was received, park officials said.

“Some people liked it out there and some people didn’t,” Recreation Director Ashley Crady commented, explaining that the biggest complaint was about traffic and parking.

“And with all the open space out there, people wanted more activities,” she added.

Residents in and around Robe-Ann Park have long just walked over for the fireworks or sat on their front porches to enjoy them since the first display during the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration. That couldn’t be done at Big Walnut, of course.

“It’s tradition vs. new, that’s what I’m hearing,” Park Board member Doug Hutchison suggested.

“Shade is at a premium out there,” he added as a negative to a permanent relocation. “With no shade, elderly people are not going to want to go where there is no shade.”

However, the biggest negative, Hutchison said, was parking, noting that it took an hour to clear the parking lot when it was all over.

“We’ve got to figure out how to get vehicles out of the parking lot,” he added after someone likened to situation to Ruoff Music Center (aka Deer Creek).

One suggestion, should the Celebrate 4 program return to Big Walnut Sports Park, would be to work with the factories out there to allow parking in their lots to help spread out the vehicles as they disperse.

However, it was noted at the recent City Council meeting that although some of those lots were closed from parking, people still sat there and left behind trash and set off bottle rockets and other fireworks that required a several-hour clean-up when the event was over.

Interim Park Director Jason Keeney noted that emergency services personnel were pleased with the Big Walnut location, adding that “out there, we didn’t have one single medical or criminal incident.”

No decision was reached and no vote taken on the site issue at the August meeting, particularly in the absence of Mayor Lynda Dunbar and longtime Park Board member Tim Trigg. It is not known whether the topic will be on next month’s agenda or not. That meeting is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4 at either the Park Office or City Hall, depending on the status of the livestreaming and recording equipment at City Hall.

In other business not yet included in a story from the Park Board meeting:

• Putnam County Mural Project spokesperson Alexandra Chamberlain elaborated on the mural addition to the South End where one will be painted on the walls of Tony Criss’s building and extended to the nearby asphalt of the Maple Berry Park basketball court by Spanish painter Emily Eldridge. The project was previously approved by the Park Board. Fourth Ward Councilman Vince Aguirre will be using about $2,000 in city funds available at his discretion to do the project, Chamberlain announced. Basketball court lines will need to be restored after she finishes her mural work, which will be done during the Sept. 7-21 period under terms of the mural contracts.

• Keeney commented on the increased cooperation among city departments, even beyond the park and cemetery, both of which he is overseeing presently. “We had a lot of things where we needed Street Department equipment,” he said, “and they brought it right over here. It’s so nice that all the departments are working so well together now.”

“It’s such a great thing,” City Council Park Department liaison Stacie Langdon added.

• The board approved a request from Scott Hamilton and the Greencastle High School cross country team to hold the Tiger Cub Invite Saturday, Sept. 21 at Big Walnut Sports Park. The course will be mowed and marked with some minor adjustments from previous years. Crady noted that the event was already on the park calendar.

• Crady reported that 110 of the 150 SPARK participants who signed up this year attended the recently completed summer program. Last year with 100 signed up, the top day saw 75 youngsters involved. “Overall I think SPARK went well,” Crady said, adding that she would like to try getting a “right-hand person to help out next year.”

• Crady reported that there have been some issues with fights during summer league softball at Robe-Ann Park. She will be meeting with team captains about the issue. Fall softball begins Aug. 20.

Park Board President Cathy Merrell was joined by board members Hamilton and Hutchison for the one-hour meeting. Council President Langdon, Crady and Keeney were also in attendance.