Jimmy Davis Park officially reopened last November, but work continues to make it a facility that all of Eatonton and Putnam County can be proud of and eager to visit.
Over the past year, the county-owned park has been significantly updated, with its building secured, parking lot repaved, basketball courts refurbished and refenced, a new playground set for younger visitors installed, playing fields regularly mowed and maintained, and a new security fence installed around the park’s perimeter. Perhaps most significantly, though, full-time manager Tweedy Parham has assumed firm control of park management and maintenance.
Parham had a little help last week, too, as 20 students from Putnam County High School’s Beta Club, led by 17-year-old club manager Hannah Erickson, showed up on a hot Thursday afternoon to plant small shrubs and flowering plants on a hillside behind the park’s baseball diamond.
The Beta Club is both an internationally recognized student leadership organization and a service organization. Its members typically have high GPAs and have shown some type of leadership abilities, whether in the classroom or in the community.
“It means a lot for them to come through here and help out the park,” Parham said. “It’s great to see a lot of help from the community and showing attention over here. I mean, we got the park back going, but with them coming over here, it makes a big difference, too.”
Parham deflected all credit for the landscaping project to Hannah.
“She came up with the idea, had a couple of family friends, I think, that donated the money, and she planned everything, how she wanted it planted and organized, everything. She did everything here; we’re just watching,” Parham said, as he and Putnam County Recreation Director Scott Haley looked on.
Under Hannah’s guidance, Putnam County Public Works employees visited the park early last week to dig holes for the new plantings. They then placed bags of soil and fertilizer, along with potted plants – all paid for with Beta Club donations – at each hole for the Beta Club crew to complete the job.
Hannah, who will be a PCHS senior this fall, broke her volunteers into groups of two or three and set them loose to complete the plantings. It took less than half an hour for the motivated crew to place more than 30 new plants and cover each with mulch, followed by a thorough watering to complete the job.
As Beta Club project manager, Hannah explained that among her responsibilities is identifying worthy projects for the club and then helping to ensure those projects are implemented.
“So, this past year we’ve been to the nursing home several times. We’ve donated blankets to Peaceful Purpose Hospice; we’ve done soft drives, we’ve done all types of different projects,” she explained. “Then, as soon as the weather got nice, I asked my club members, What do you all want to see in a community service project? And they said, ‘Well, we want to do a beautification project, a landscaping project.’ And I thought that was a great idea.
So, I started thinking about where we could do that, where there was a need for some beautification. And I thought of Jimmy Davis Park because I know there have been many recent improvements made here by the county. Still, I also saw they had completely cleared this area by the [perimeter] fence, and I thought some plants would look really nice here and also provide a little bit of privacy.”
Hannah gave a lot of credit to Parham and Haley for their assistance and support, but also singled out County Manager Paul Van Haute and County District 2 Commissioner Richard Garrett for their support and encouragement.
“They all have really made this possible and I’m so grateful to them,” she said.
Hannah also mentioned she has a long-held soft spot for JDP.
“I remember coming here to play soccer, but our team, we didn’t really like playing games here because there weren’t any bathrooms open,” she recalled. “But now there are nice bathrooms, nice facilities, a nice field, a nice track, a playground, and it’s just come such a long way.”