Independence Day Carnival and Ashby Pond

The City prides itself on its fantastic parks and recreation department and offerings. From the trails to our parks and of course, events, no one does it better than us.

We'll, we're stepping it up a bit.

Thanks to the creativity of parks director Mike McCarty and his team, the City's Independence Day celebration isn't just going to last a day. It's going to last for a weekend. On Saturday, Sunday and Monday (except during the parade), the City will host a carnival at the Sun Trust bank parking lot site on University Drive. This is where we've had the fall festival carnival before. There will also be food available as well as rides and games. Special thanks goes to Sun Trust for their support.

The Independence Day carnival is actually something the City had until a few years ago but for a variety of reasons stopped. I'm glad to see that this tradition is back. Be on the lookout for more information.

Onto the pond ... Ashby Pond that is. As many know, the City purchased the Ashby Pond site in the Little River Hills Neighborhood many years ago with the expectation that we would clean it up, dredge it, put in a trail and make some other minor improvements so that it could be a passive park.

Right now we have about $390,000 in the bank, but are short around $140,000 for the entire project. On Tuesday night the Council re-dedicated its commitment to finding the funding and making good on turning Ashby Pond a passive park. We are looking at having at work session at the June 28 meeting to discuss options for funding, which could include using some of the $2.4 million remaining from the 2005 library construction (we just found out about this recently).

In any event, this is a promise we made to the community and it's one we certainly will keep. Stay tuned.