Amphitheatre, trails planned for Perry’s Heritage Park

PERRY — A nonprofit foundation has plans to build an amphitheater in a new park that city officials hope will one day become the preferred outdoor venue for festivals and the anchor of a citywide greenway.

Mayor Jimmy Faircloth said the City Council has “bantered a little” in the past about trying to find space for an amphitheater, but conversations became more serious following the creation of Heritage Park last year.

“That’s going to be a distinctive park,” Faircloth said. “It’s not going to be necessarily passive, (and) it’s not going to be a ball field park.”

For years the 22 acres of land at 2005 Sam Nunn Blvd. have been vacant, but Faircloth said he anticipates that will start to change within the next 12 to 18 months.

“The plan for that is to create an amphitheater (with) large parking so it can handle a large crowd,” Faircloth said of Heritage Park. “That particular piece of property is already naturally set up in a semi-bowl, a portion of it is anyway, and it’s the logical place for (an amphitheater).”

City Councilman Riley Hunt said the undeveloped land is “a beautiful piece of property. ... It would be ideal for most anything you wanted to put there.”

Faircloth said the city doesn’t necessarily need an amphitheater, but “we think that if we had one, it would be one more positive aspect culturally and otherwise for the residents of the city of Perry. It would get a lot of use.”

Efforts to bring amenities to the park are being led by the James E. Worrall Foundation, formed in 2012 in memory of the late mayor who pushed for youth advancement during his 20 years in the city’s top job. The nonprofit promotes recreational activities and serves as a way to gather contributions, gifts, grants and other donations to improve opportunities for young people in Perry, according to the city’s website.

Felix Smith, co-president of the foundation, said a lot of the park’s plans are in the early stages as financial support trickles in. However, Smith said he expects the amphitheater will be built in about a year.

“We picture it not being anything real elaborate. Benches with a stage, basically,” Smith said. “It won’t be anything that’s a big concrete structure.”

In the long term, the city is working on a 16-mile trail that would connect all parks and “the trail head would be at Heritage Park,” Smith said. “That will be something that you just don’t see in a town the size of Perry.”

Land for the greenway has been acquired, and the challenge is “just getting the path set up,” Smith said.

Restrooms, a pavilion with picnic tables, walking trails and a field equipped with lights and irrigation are a few amenities included in the foundation’s vision for the park, Smith said. So far, the foundation has raised $14,000 in private donations. Faircloth said the city will connect utilities to the property.

“It’s all going to cost a good bit of money,” Smith said, estimating the amphitheater and other amenities would cost about $500,000. “We’re even looking for some corporate sponsors to help us with this, too.

“Even before we get an amphitheater out there or a field of any kind, we’ll ... have a family-friendly movie on a big screen just to get people out there to see the park.”

Donations to the James E. Worrall Foundation can be made at www.crowdrise.com/perryheritagepark.

To contact writer Laura Corley, call 744-4334 or follow her on Twitter @Lauraecor.

This story was originally published November 8, 2015 at 10:08 PM.