Letter from Bell Buckle Park Board Chairman

Jenny Hunt, Chairman February 2008 Planning a park was a tremendous endeavor that took years of research, fundraising, and elbow grease before it could ever become reality.  Now some of our hardest work lies ahead of us – ensuring the park’s future is a successful one and that it continues to fill our community’s needs and serve as a cornerstone bonding our residents together. The evolvement of the Bell Buckle Park has been a heartwarming experience not just for our community but me personally. Each Park Board member has put a large amount of physical effort into the park and an even larger part of our hearts. There have definitely been some kinks, but all in all this park has become the heart of the community as we had hoped! We have been so fortunate to have such incredible support. We were able to secure foundation funding for park restrooms with the help of a local citizen. The landscaping continues to add beauty and serenity to the overall charm of the park. Eagle Scout hopeful Matt Bettis just completed planting over 500 tree seedlings at the park. One area near the walking trail bridge is a tree nursery that we hope will not only grow replacement trees for the park but also for Bell Buckle residents who may lose trees due to drought, disease, age, etc. Bell Buckle is the smallest town in the state of Tennessee to earn Tree City USA status, and the tree nursery should ensure tomorrow’s trees for centuries to come. The amphitheater has finally broken ground and looks to add another venue for community gatherings within the year. It would be easy to sit back and admire the accomplishments of the last seven years, but that is not what the Bell Buckle Park is about. Last year was the park’s first fully functional year. Thanks to the hard work of Katherine Strobel, summer activities were scheduled and implemented. At the end of the summer, we reviewed those activities and have begun using our new experiences to plan for the summer of 2008. Under consideration are theme nights at the park, exercise classes, story telling, arts and crafts classes, bingo, and much more. We continue to explore fundraising opportunities such as a Labor Day Grass Roots BBQ Cook Off. Our two cookbooks continue to be incredible best sellers as well as our t-shirts sales. . We have been working for several months on fine tuning our short term and long term goals. After compiling a survey of needed projects the results were as follows: Complete amphitheater Fix up area next to park restrooms by pouring concrete under roof area to create “porch” Create trail from parking lot to playground Label all trees and apply for official arboretum status for the park Natural fence area at parking lot and along road to Convenience Center to deter cars driving into park. Asphalt parking lot Ball field/area to play basketball Address possible old school building vacancy if town moves maintenance facility-new community type center Raise funding to acquire Russ Faxon’s life size “Blowing Bubbles” Hire a part time program/activities director There are so many aspects of running a park that it is hard to convey the entire picture as it is made up of so many pieces making it all look so effortless. Volunteers of our community have been our most valuable resource and the main reason for our past successes. The Bell Buckle Park Board recognized that through the decades so many people have stepped forward and done so much for this town without recognition or thanks. Through that realization, the Park Board has created a Citizen of the Year award that is presented annually during the Arbor Day ceremony on Daffodil Day. It is a little late to start saying thanks but as the old saying goes “better late than never”! Look for our web site to be more current and have continual monthly updates thanks to the generous donation of the Hyatt family. This web site will offer reports on all that is happening at the park. It will be our most used form of communication though we will start printing newsletters again later this year. As always, the Bell Buckle Park Board hopes that the park continues to serve our citizens well. Please let us know if you would like to see anything new added or offered at the park. We are constantly looking at what we need do and how to do what we are currently doing better. See you at the Park!

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