The extensively remodeled and improved Pierson and Mallet park, located on Fifth St., behind the fire station, hosted a grand reopening Saturday, May 27th. Sparky the Firedog was joined by his police counterpart McGruff the Crime Dog in entertaining the approximately 35 children and families at the event. The fire department, assisted by master griller City Marshal Randy Williams, cooked hot dogs for the crowd and passed out water. The parish library staff contributed to the festive air with their face painting booth, long a favorite of young readers and future readers.
The park has over $250,000.00 worth of improvements according to keynote speaker Mayor Lee Posey. There are 5 pods, each with a different piece of equipment designed to exercise young bodies as they climb, crawl and swing. The pods are connected by a “Reading Trail”, a pathway that features a children’s book. Each pod has a passage from the book and a related activity. The first book is Johnette Downing’s “Petit Pierre and the Floating Marsh”. Ms. Downing was the featured entertainer at the park’s reopening. She read from her book and led the children in songs and dances. This park is the first of several to be opened around the city.
