Bluebriar Park spruce-up is Jan. 7 in Granite Shoals

Granite Shoals Parks Department staff install new equipment and stage mulch at Bluebriar Park in preparation for a volunteer workday on Saturday, Jan. 7. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey

The “City of Parks” needs volunteers to help clean up its prized green spaces. The Granite Shoals Parks Advisory Committee is hosting a workday at Bluebriar Park on Saturday, Jan. 7, starting at 9 a.m. The park is located at 100 N. Shorewood Drive.

Jobs include painting the pavilion, sanding down playground equipment, spreading mulch, and sprucing up the park in general. Bring your own equipment, if possible, including rakes, shovels, paintbrushes, rollers, and sandpaper.

This will be the first of many workdays to come since the Parks Advisory Committee acquired an adequate liability waiver for volunteers, which must be signed to participate in the cleanup. It absolves the city of responsibility in case of mishaps, damages, or injury. 

While many of Granite Shoals’ 19 parks were beautified with volunteer work in the past, that slowed down when liability concerns were brought to the city’s attention.

The Parks Advisory Committee has been working with the city since the spring of 2022 to get materials for park work and the proper waiver. 

“It’s a big relief that we finally got somewhere,” committee volunteer coordinator Michele Landfield told DailyTrib.com. 

After City Secretary Dawn Wright was hired in October, she collaborated with Landfield to rustle up the waiver, which was buried in city records, allowing work to move forward.

“Anything that gets the community involved and gives people an opportunity to be a part of our city is a huge benefit in my book,” Wright told DailyTrib.com.

Weather permitting, Landfield plans to hold future volunteer workdays, the next being on Saturday, Jan. 21. 

“I love the parks,” she said. “They’re our windows to the lake.”

For more information about the workdays, email Landfield at landfieldmichele@gmail.com.

dakota@thepicayune.com