Park News

		Above, neighborhood kids gather around a temporary sandbox to dig for prizes. And below, kids delight in playing in the large pile of dirt in the middle of the park!

By Amy Broyles

I hope many of you saw the recent article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel about the neighborhood park being developed on East Oklahoma Avenue. It was a fabulous feature article, and did a great job highlighting ONK. If you didn't see it, it is available online – go to: http://knoxville.yourhub.com, select Broadway/Fountain City from the drop-down menu, and look in recent stories for "Vacant Old North Knoxville lot becoming a park." 

Grading and Construction 

As I write this, ONK resident and Park Committee member Glenn Young is downtown securing the grading permits from the city. ONK resident Grant Rosenberg has helped us secure donations of fill dirt, and we have hired Donnie Ernst to begin grading the site. Grading may already be underway as you read this! This is an exciting step in the park building process, and it has taken a long time and a lot of hard work on the part of many people to get to this point. I intend to take a chair and a bottle of champagne down to the park site and watch it happen! 

After grading is complete, we will need VOLUNTEERS to help install pathways and build the play structure. You do not have to have any construction or landscaping experience to be part of this effort! We have scheduled our first workdays on September 8- 9 and 22-23. We will begin at 8:00 am and work until it gets too hot to continue! The Park Committee will provide cold water, snacks, and lunch to all volunteers. Please mark these days on your calendar, and plan to participate. We cannot build this park without YOUR help! 

Please let us know which day(s) you can volunteer, so we can have a rough idea of how much food to prepare, and how much material to have ready for each day. 

Name Our Park Contest

Here are the submissions for the contest. To vote, you can simply call me (it’s OK to leave your vote on my voice mail) at 237-6538. If you have already voted online, please don’t vote again! The winner will be announced at the Ice Cream Social on September 6, and will receive an engraved brick to be placed in the park. Thanks to everyone for these great suggestions!!

• Amity Park (‘Amity’ means friendship)
• Anderson-Kilgore Park (in honor of Andy Anderson and Chet Kilgore, and all their work for the neighborhood and historic preservation)
• Brookside Park (the original name of the street the park is on)
• Camp – WATE Park (honoring the original family and also the current resident of the “Greystone Building” on Broadway)
• Happy Hollow Park (the area of Central that runs from Woodland down to Broadway used to be – and still is - called “Happy Hollow”)
• Imagination Station
• Mountain View Park (the original name of the subdivision where the park is located) Old
• North Knoxville Park
• Old North Park

Speaking of Bricks

Have you bought yours yet? They are only $50 each, and are a great way to commemorate a special person, pet, date or house! Each engraved brick will hold three lines of 15 characters each. The bricks will be a special feature of the park. 

		Amy B. and Denise R. make sure everyone is supplied with watermelon.

Meeting Schedule

The Park Committee meets on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month at St. James Episcopal Church on Broadway. Meetings begin at 7:00 and are generally over by 8:00. It is a fun group, and new folks are always welcome. We work hard, but we also laugh a lot!