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Homestead Park on South Side to get $20K makeover
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Homestead Park on Dewey Avenue is among 12 parks nationwide getting a $20,000 makeover from the Sprite Spark Parks Project, a program from the Coca-Cola Co. The program is providing the money for improvements.
YOUNGSTOWN
A park on the city’s South Side is among 12 nationwide getting a $20,000 makeover from a soft-drink company.
The Sprite Spark Parks Project, a program from the Coca-Cola Co., is providing the money for improvements, primarily to resurface the basketball court, at Homestead Park on Dewey Avenue. The company will present the check to the mayor and members of city council at noon Saturday at the park.
Other work includes new benches and new concrete steps, said Robert Burke, the city’s park and recreation director.
“We’re so fortunate they chose Youngstown,” he said. “People are recognizing the need in Youngstown to promote health and wellness and improving the quality of life here.”
The city applied for the grant through the National Recreation and Park Association, a partner in the Sprite project, said DeAnn Baxter, a Coca-Cola company spokeswoman.
The association reviewed numerous applications and selected Homestead as one of seven parks nationally to be guaranteed a $20,000 grant, she said. Five additional $20,000 grants are available to other parks through a competitive process that ends next month, she said.
Homestead was selected from all the applications from a region that includes Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky and West Virginia, Baxter said.
“People haven’t been able to use the park much because of problems with the playing surface,” she said.
The work will start in May and will take about a month to be done, Baxter and Burke said.
“People will be looking forward to using the court this summer with a new concrete surface,” Baxter said.
The court is in poor shape and in need of improvement work, Burke said.
“The grant allows us to do that as well as other work, such as new concrete steps and new benches,” he said.
On Saturday, volunteers are asked to help with a cleanup in and around the park to ready it for the new court.