Volunteers build ball field, add seating at Pike Road park

More than 70 volunteers were in Pike Road on Friday working on upgrades to a 10-acre park owned by the city that will soon be the home of a baseball field and a veterans memorial.

The city received more than $20,000 worth of materials from the Home Depot Foundation to fix up the park, which is currently being called the Old Town Hall resource park, Pike Road Mayor Gordon Stone said.

Jason Schoonhoven, manager of the Home Depot on Chantilly Parkway, said he read about the new veterans memorial in the city?s newsletter, and wanted to help. From Sept. 11 until Veterans Day, the Home Depot Foundation offers celebration of service grants to communities.

Schoonhoven applied for the grant and coordinated with city officials to execute the project. About 60 volunteers from Home Depot stores all over the region, along with about 15 resident volunteers, worked on the park.

Projects included landscaping around the pavilion and veterans memorial, installing a field fence, laying sod on the field, building two dugouts, building trash can enclosures and adding seating near the memorial, Stone said.

Schoonhoven said the plan was to finish the projects by the end of Friday.

?It?s going to allow us to continue to have a connection to the center of our original crossroads community,? Stone said. ?People will always be able to go to the heartbeat of Pike Road.?

The park contains a trailhead for the Pike Road Natural Trail, the Pike Road Volunteer Fire Department station, a restroom facility, a picnic pavilion, a community garden, an unfinished softball/baseball field and a place for the memorial once it?s finished.

The city bought the property in 2006, Stone said.

The memorial, which will be unveiled Nov. 11 at the city?s Veterans Day celebration, is being funded by the Pike Road Investment in Community and Education, a community nonprofit established by the city.

Stone said that eventually the Old Town Hall facility across the street will be torn down and replaced with a replica, which will serve as a meeting house for community groups and as a small museum about the history of Pike Road.

Stefanie Duncan, who works at the Home Depot in Pike Road and lives in Montgomery, said she travels all over the region on her days off to volunteer at Home Depot community service projects.

?I like to do these projects because it gives back to the community,? Duncan said. ?It?s a place where they can actually come and have fun.?

 

Montgomery Curb Market's redesign to add seating, signage

When John Grier would set up his stand at the Montgomery Curb Market 39 years ago, eager customers helped him unload his truck so they could get the pick of the freshest produce.

Grier, a member of the curb market?s board of directors, said during the ?boom? days, produce would be gone within minutes.

But today, the market doesn?t have the amount of patrons it used to, he said.

In an effort to beautify the market and attract new customers, the city of Montgomery, which owns the curb market building on Madison Avenue, is planning to redesign the front entrance, improve signage and add seating for patrons.

?One of the challenges is a lot of people know where the curb market is, but a lot of new folks or guests into town may not know exactly where it is,? said Chad Emerson, the city?s director of development. ?And so hopefully this new frontage will make a clear entrance while preserving everything about the curb market that everybody has historically appreciated.?

The curb market moved to its current location in 1947, and is one of the oldest farmers markets in the state, Grier said. There have been some renovations over the years, but there?s still a lot that needs to be done, he added.

The city has hired Montgomery-based Pfeffer Torode Architecture to start designing the project. The plan is to add a covered pavilion-like structure across the entire front of the building for vendors to display and sell their goods, Emerson said.

The city also will add a seating area on the north side of the entrance.

?When you buy the goods and products at the curb market, you can sit down and enjoy them right there,? Emerson said.

The budget for the project is between $40,000 and $50,000, Emerson said. The goal is to have the construction completed by next spring.

The project is part of the Madison Avenue Gateway Plan, a vision created for improving Madison Avenue from North Ripley to Vonora streets.

Once the plans are done, the city will work with the curb market to determine the best way to proceed with construction, he said.

?Historically, it?s been a great place to go, but it?s never had a great curb appeal,? Emerson said. ?It?s an institution for people that come and get fresh vegetables.?

Reeda McElwaney, who has a stand at the curb market, said city officials got feedback from members about what they?d like to see the entrance look like.

McElwaney said she?s grateful that the city is going to design a plan that will preserve the historic character of the market, but still make it attractive to younger people.

?People have forgotten about the market,? said Diann Causey, who has had a stand at the market with her husband since 1983. ?If it looks more presentable and there are better signs, then people might remember it.?

Causey said the idea of the front porch, New Orleans-style frontage will improve the ambiance of the market.

?The younger generation that does not come down here as much will come more if it looks a little bit brighter, a little bit cleaner, a little bit more modern,? Causey said.

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