InTucker Magazine

Ask Rip

Rip Robertson is the Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Tucker.

Welcome to summer! Our first concert is in the bag and it went very well. The weather cooperated, although it pressed us throughout the week. Nathan Angelo entertained us with great music and, with an unfortunate accident (nothing extreme) that had the drummer depart, we had one of Tucker’s own step up and play like part of the band. What a night! Join us again this Friday for “The Woodys”. It will be an enthusiastic night and we look forward to hosting the community for a grand time.

The Parks and Recreation Department would like to announce several community meetings concerning some of our specific parks. We have plans to discuss for Lord Park, Fitzgerald Park and the complete renovation of Johns Homestead Park. We will meet on June 9 to discuss the plans for Lord Park and some of the improvements made to other Smoke Rise community parks. These improvements include several new bridges/boardwalks in Probst Park, the new playground in Rosenfeld and possibly beginning some early phases of Lord Park. There has been some planning completed for Lord Park and we are excited about answering the community’s questions.

On June 16, we will host a meeting to discuss the renovation plans for Fitzgerald Park. Some improvements, most importantly the water/sewer, have already started. This is a very important part of the community’s park system, as Fitzgerald is the City’s “sports complex”. This park was a unique acquisition and filled a need discussed in our adopted Parks and Recreation Master Plan. We will discuss additional projects and answer questions specific to the sports complex.

There will also be an important community meeting to discuss the upcoming project at Johns Homestead Park. This critical project will address decades-old issues with the lakes and dams in this historic park. The project will include replacing those failed structures, additional improvements to the streams and erosion issues in the park. We will also be adding several amenities to provide the surrounding neighborhoods with additional access points, improved trails, bridges, and boardwalks as well as play areas and environmental learning opportunities. We have not yet set a specific date but hope to get it scheduled later this month or in early July.

Of course, with summer comes fun. Don’t forget to schedule time for our Annual Independence Day Celebration on July 3 beginning at 6:00 p.m. The fireworks will be incredible with live music from The Vibe rocking Main Street, great giveaways and food. This year we are adding a new feature with fun games and activities for the kids. Near the end of Main Street bring the little ones over for activities that are sure to entertain. The local and always fabulous downtown restaurants are gearing up and, as usual, we’ll have several additional food options with wurst/dogs, queso/nachos, BBQ, Americana, Greek, Asian and more from the scheduled food trucks. Come to Main Street and enjoy a great, hometown family evening.

Keep in mind that the summer doesn’t end there. We’ll be back in August with the very energetic Mike Veal Band (mikevealband.com) and on September 2 with A1A (a1a-live.com), the “official” Jimmy Buffett cover band.

Another part of our Summer of Fun is the National Night Out celebration on August 2 at Smoke Rise Elementary School. We’ll also have a movie on the Church Street greenspace in October. More details to come on both of these exciting events in the upcoming issues.

Come out to Henderson Park on June 11 to support PAWS Atlanta with the “Walk for the Paws” event. There will be vendors, food trucks and beverages with several contests. This benefit walk is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and starts at the lakeside pavilion (Livsey entrance).

If you haven’t already, don’t forget about your annual pool membership. The pools opened over the Memorial Day weekend and are a great way to spend your day cooling off and playing in the water. Our pool schedules along with annual and daily rates are available online.

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