City of Savannah celebrates new public park, pedestrian mural outside of Enmarket Arena
Only a few years ago, the land outside of where Enmarket Arena stands was a public works yard for the City of Savannah. Now, that land serves another public purpose as a park and 650-foot pedestrian mural ― purported to be Georgia's biggest, according to Mayor Van Johnson.
With Johnson flanked by a group of children from the community, Savannah held a ribbon-cutting celebration Saturday for the park's completion. The pedestrian mural was created by five different groups comprised of Savannah artists. Some portions were painted with the help of children from surrounding neighborhoods. The new park includes basketball hoops, interactive play areas for kids, benches and picnic tables, and open green space.
"We got together with a group of leaders from the westside neighborhoods, and we worked with them to sort of master plan this site," said Brett Bell, chief of information and public affairs. "The long-term goal for this area is to develop it into mixed-use compatible with the arena, but for the time being we want to make it a fun place to be, where the community can come and interact."
The theme of the mural, created in conjunction with the westside leaders, was pathways. Tara Garigan, alongside six other artists and kids from Brock Elementary School, created "Savannah Land," the last mural that leads to Gwinnett Street. It's an interactive piece that is modeled after Candy Land game but with a Savannah twist that can be played using the QR codes posted near it or through Instagram.
"On the webpage there's all kinds of information about the different things in the mural that are historical sites around Savannah," Garigan said. "It took about 200 hours to paint and then maybe about 50 hours of planning."
Marsha Buford, a pastor and community leader said she was excited and proud of the space and event. "It's very exciting because it went from being a cement plan to blighted to this," Buford said. "To see this transformation is awesome."
Bell said he really wants to encourage residents across Savannah, but particularly those in the neighborhood, to enjoy the space like a neighborhood park.
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: City of Savannah celebrates new public park, mural outside of Enmarket Arena
