The newly formed Muhlenberg County parks and Recreation Department says it's progress on its five year plan to improve the parks system.
So, what's been done so far and what's still ahead?
Phase One involves improving the 15 neighborhood parks spread out across the county, and residents are ready to see some changes.
"Our park could use quite a bit of improvement," noted resident Linda Croft.
Croft says her nearby park has needed an upgrade for years, and that's something her grand kids deserve.
"They really don't have nothing to do around here except for the park and I've got one right down the street where they can do and I like to go watch them play," she said.
A neighborhood park in Central City is just one of more than a dozen that will see improvements this fall, something Parks Director Tommy Barton says is the first step in their five year parks plan.
"The first phase is giving everything a facelift throughout the whole county, so we don't leave out any town, any park and we want to get that to the people first," Barton told 14 News.
Some of the improvements include updated basketball courts, new benches, and safety surfacing around all the playground equipment. Croft says having that new surfacing is key.
"A lot of kids run around barefoot and you know straw sometimes has stiff pieces in it and naturally they're going to get splinters in their feet," she said.
Barton says they're also working on transforming an old baseball diamond into a remote control racing park.
"Not only are we working on facilities we're working on programming to hopefully give a boost to the economy here," said Barton.
The Felix Martin Foundation funded these initial improvements, costing $500,000. Barton says, next they plan to shift their focus on a new 250 acre county wide park.
Barton says the improvements to the neighborhood parks should be completed within a month.
For more information on parks department, you can visit their brand new website.
Copyright 2012 WFIE. All rights reserved.
This multi-million dollar plan is funded thanks to the Felix Martin Foundation.
