Residents enjoy Fairview Park, which is scheduled for facelift with bond money
In photo above: Reggie McCaskill, center, master of ceremony, welcomes the children on stage as they dance to a hit song during the second annual Summer Festival at the Gathering Place in Fairview Park on Saturday, May 16. (Photos by Erin Mizelle for the Winston-Salem Chronicle)
Residents in the Fairview Park community have a new space for fun, food and fellowship. They were given a chance to practice all of that, and more, on May 16 at Saturday’s Gathering Place at Fairview Park Summer Festival, at the park on Bethlehem Lane.
Carolyn Telcer said she came out to participate with her grandchildren and enjoy the festival.
“I think it’s great. It’s good for the community to be able to get together and have something positive for the field,” she said. “We need more activities like this for the children to see something positive and learn about all these different cultures and activities.”
Attendees were able to grab free hot dogs and hamburgers to eat while enjoying performances from local choirs, comedians and step teams, along with an inflatable house for children.
There were also community and informational tables for residents interested in surrounding businesses and nonprofits including Goodwill, Medicap, the Winston-Salem Urban League, True Elite and the Weatherization Assistance Program by the Piedmont Triad Regional Council and vendors selling everything from toiletries to bags.
Mary French brought her two children out to to support the event.
“I wanted to support the community doing positive things,” she said. “I look forward to the changes, with less crime and violence in the area.”
The park is a brainchild of Mayor Pro Tempore Vivian H. Burke in an effort to revitalize and re-energize the park and its surrounding areas.
“I wanted to see if we could improve the park. I wanted people to be aware that this is their park, that we are going to do things to keep it safe and to make it easy for residents to get into from Liberty Street, so that they can have family reunions, neighborhood gatherings and organization gatherings there on a regular basis,” Burke said. “We’re saying this is yours and we want you to use it.”
Residents have often said that they were concerned with the neglected neighborhoods that brought with them crime and hopeful about bringing in businesses which could in turn bring jobs to stimulate the area economically. Burke is hoping that the Cleveland Avenue Master Plan will add to the revitalization, making the park more of an amenity.
“There are a lot of possibilities that could be created in the park that would motivate and have a positive feeling on residents,” she said. “I hope that it will put a lot more energy behind individuals to also go use the market and stimulate the local economy.”
The park has a large area full of playground equipment, a basketball court and a walking trail.
The area is expected to get a $200,000 facelift from the bond referendum approved by voters in November. They hope to begin work in the summer of 2016.
Evan Raleigh, assistant to the city manager, said that Fairview Park is an anchor along the Liberty Street corridor and that the city is in the planning process of revitalizing the park.
“We’ve hired a local consultant who is in the process of putting together a plan for us to execute here, very shortly, as it pertains to the new investment of Fairview Park and making it over,” Raleigh said. “I think it will go a long way to sprucing up that area.”
Raleigh said that he is excited about the possibilities that the area will have after it’s done.
“It’ll sparkle when we’re finished,” he said.
