HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WHLT) – Vernon Dahmer Park in Hattiesburg will get an update thanks to a grant from T-Mobile.

On Thursday, Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker announced the park is one of 25 recipients of T-Mobile’s Hometown Grant. The $50,000 grant will be used to provide new playground equipment at the park and restore the pavilion, which was damaged during a fire last summer.

Barker said the grant, paired with insurance proceeds and the city’s 1% Parks and Recreation tax revenues, will cover the full cost of the remodel.

“I think parks really make quality of life, particularly when trying to have safe places that families can come in and just enjoy each other and have events and birthday parties and Juneteenth celebrations and Easter egg hunts. And this park, notably, is named after someone who means so much to our community, Mr. Vernon Dahmer. And this park is an institution for this area of the city. And we have to make sure that we’re always going forward and reinvesting in those spaces, so that we can keep them top of the line and as quality as they can be,” said Barker.

Work on the pavilion has already begun. The mayor expects the work on the playground to begin in late summer.