Poteet Park's birthday to be celebrated; volunteers asked to help with maintenance

By Lisa Majors-Duff

"A year's worth of playing has taken its toll on the playground," said Jay Spiro, the Sylva Rotary member coordinating this weekend's events. "So we plan to spend the day sprucing up." Work at the playground - which will include staining the wood structures, adding mulch, weeding and landscaping - will get under way at 9 a.m., Spiro said. A crew will also be recruited to install an additional section of picket fence, he said.

"The pickets don't have names on them because we still need to find someone who will do the engraving," said Spiro. The sale of individual pickets with engraved names was used to raise funds for the playground.

For safety reasons, the park will be closed to children during Saturday's work, Spiro said. Once the work winds up for the day at about 5 p.m., everyone is invited to participate in a covered-dish dinner to be followed by birthday cake.

Those planning to help during the workday are asked to bring any of the following tools available to them: paint brushes, rags, shovels, wheelbarrows, garden rakes, trimmers and pruners. Food for the covered-dish dinner (a meat, vegetable, salad or dessert) should be brought to the park pavilion at about 4:30 p.m. The Sylva Rotary Club will supply drinks and paper products.

"We plan to make this birthday celebration a regular event," Spiro said. "Not only are we maintaining the playground, but we hope to maintain the community spirit that inspired the park project."

More than 1,700 names were taken during the seven-day effort to rebuild Sylva's Poteet Park Sept. 6-11, 1999. Skilled and unskilled volunteers started work on the playground project on Labor Day. Boards were sawed, holes were dug, paint was applied and nails were hammered. After six 14-hour days and with more than 98 percent of the project completed, area children broke through a construction paper ring chain to officially reopen the park.

The new Poteet Park was made possible by a $250,000 state Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant given to the town of Sylva in May 1999. With the money in the bank, Sylva Rotary Club members Spiro and Cathy Arrington took up the task of organizing the effort. Architects with Leathers and Associates of New York were hired to design the park, using ideas generated by local elementary school students.

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