Lions Club Park moving to new location

By Janet S. Lee

Though the proposed Hillman Commons will go on the site where Hillman-Berry Lions Club Park has welcomed children, college students, and Clintonians of all ages for sixty years, the park will get new life at a site right across Leake Street.

On a parcel, also owned by Mississippi College, which adjoins a parking lot of First Baptist Church as well as the new replica Train Depot, the recreated Lions Club Park will be better than ever, according to Ward 3 Alderman Bill Barnett, who is himself a longtime member of the Clinton Lions Club.

“Chartre Corp is giving some significant money to help with the construction, as well as one individual, Mississippi College, and the City.  Altogether, it’s about $125,000, and we’re hoping to get a $100,000 grant from Lions International to help with the purchase of state-of-the art playground equipment.”

Barnett continued, “Everything will be ADA-compliant, and we’ll have a pavilion on the west end, as well.  Being so close to the Train Depot, visitors will be able to take advantage of the restroom facilities there.  We don’t intend to remove any trees, unless they’re diseased, so it’s going to be a great green space in the heart of Olde Towne with wonderful playground equipment.”

A familiar fixture of the Lions Club Park will make the move across the street:  the oversized metal structure of a caterpillar, the namesake of Clinton’s annual spring Caterpillar Parade.  Though it will no longer be used as play equipment, it will be proudly re-positioned to serve as a centerpiece of the new and improved park.

Barnett is enthusiastic about the new park, saying, “It’s going to be a giant step forward, for sure, but it wouldn’t be Lions Club Park without that caterpillar!”