Higgston On the Grow

The Higgston City Park is getting a facelift after the Mayor and City Council’s discovery that restrictions on the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds have been relaxed.

These renovations to the park began on Saturday, August 5, as the members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Battleground Guard Troop 5/Robert A. Toombs Camp 932 of Higgston and Rising Sons Troop 5 Squad of Dublin volunteered their time to assemble and install new pieces of playground equipment at the park. According to Mayor Jesse Ledford, this new equipment was the beginning of a series of improvements to the City Park which will be funded with leftover ARPA money.

“The government started broadening criteria of what continued from page

you could use this Covid funding for – where before it was strict on what you could and couldn’t do, now there is a lot of room. This playground actually fell up under the guidelines of using the money for social distancing,” Ledford explained.

He shared that some projects he and the City Council are hopeful to complete within the park are the creation of another covered pavilion and the resurfacing of the park’s walking track. “We are looking at all of our options and working together to see what can be done,” Ledford added.

In total, Ledford said the City has around five times the amount of funding it took to purchase the new playground equipment. “A lot more is to be expected,” he concluded. “We already have a good park – other people we talk to often tell us that they drove from other cities to the park because it is quiet and enjoyable. We just want to continue to make it better.”

SATURDAY PROJECT – On August 5, volunteers worked to pour concrete, assemble equipment, and install a new playground at Higgston City Park.