Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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F CUS On Veterans Park Receives National Recognition The North Carolina Veterans Park has been selected as one of the Public Works Projects of the Year for 2013 by the American Public Works Association (APWA). Each year, the APWA recognizes outstanding public works projects across the nation, in categories ranging from disaster response to historical preservation. The North Carolina Veterans Park is dedicated to military veterans from all branches of the Armed 6HUYLFHV 7KH 1RUWK &DUROLQD 9HWHUDQV 3DUN ¿UVW opened to the public in the summer of 2011 and has quickly become a landmark in Fayetteville. Rain Barrels at Mazarick Park: Helping Stormwater Quality and Quantity The City of Fayetteville Stormwater Division has teamed up with Mazarick Park to promote rain harvesting and rain barrel use. Last summer, Mazarick Park, which is operated by Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks & Recreation, and the Stormwater Division worked together to install a rain barrel to demonstrate to homeowners how to properly set up a rain EDUUHO DV ZHOO DV WR SRVW DQ HGXFDWLRQDO VLJQ WKDW GHVFULEHV WKH EHQH¿WV DQG XVHV RI KDUYHVWHG UDLQ ZDWHU 0D]DULFN 3DUN XVHV WKH ZDWHU IURP WKH UDLQ EDUUHO WR ZDWHU QHDUE\ ODQGVFDSH SODQWV DQG ÀRZHUV Cumberland County Soil and Water District donated the rain barrel that is now being used. Rain water harvesting has become very popular in the past few years, due to prolonged drought conditions and rising utility bills. Rain barrels are above-ground water storage tanks that capture stormwater runoff from rooftops using the gutter system to route the water into the barrel. When rain water is captured using a rain barrel, it reduces the amount of stormwater runoff generated by a rain event. This reduces the burden on the drainage system. It also lowers the potential for pollutants to enter the drainage system, which protects water quality. The rain water that is harvested is then used to water nearby gardens. If you are interested in learning more about rain barrels, and to see a rain barrel in use, head on over to Mazarick Park and check it out. If you have questions about the City's Stormwater program, please call the Stormwater Hotline at (910) 433-1613 or check us out on the web at www.cityoffayetteville.org/stormwater. Parks & Rec Receives Grant for Christmas in the Park The North Carolina Veterans Park is a park that was GHVLJQHG IRU UHÀHFWLRQ DQG FHOHEUDWLRQ DQG IHDWXUHV a 3,500 square foot Visitors Center, Service Ribbon Wall, a chandelier made from 33,500 dog tags, an interactive globe, hand castings of veterans from all 100 counties and a North Carolina Soils Wall built with soil collected from every county in the state. The Community Lawn area features the Story Garden, and beautiful exhibits throughout the park symbolize life before, during and after military service. The award will be presented to the park's project managers during the APWA annual Awards Recognition Ceremony Monday, Aug. 26 in Chicago. 6 JULY 10-16, 2013 Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks & Recreation has been approved for a $15,000 grant from the Cumberland County Tourism Development Authority to market the Christmas in the Park lights event. The grant will be used for billboards in the Sandhills and advertising in Our State magazine, the second largest paid circulation of any privately published state magazine in America. Christmas in the Park is held each December in Arnette Park, off Wilmington Highway, and features 70,000 lights, a train ride, a photo op with Santa, a 30-foot Christmas tree surrounded by smaller trees synchronized to music and Christmas movies displayed on a large movie screen. Participants can also create a Christmas craft, listen to local entertainment, have a cup of hot chocolate, roast marshmallows and enjoy the experience of walking the lighted one-half mile handicap accessible trail. Parks & Recreation has seen a rapid growth of participants each year since the Christmas in the Park program VWDUWHG LQ 'XULQJ WKH ¿UVW \HDU WKH HYHQW GUHZ DSSUR[LPDWHO\ SHRSOH SDUWLFLSDQWV LQ WKH second year and 11,000 people last year. Based on surveys conducted on the last night of the 2012 Christmas in the Park event, which was the busiest night Parks & Recreation has ever had, approximately 44 percent of participants lived outside of the event's 10 mile radius. Overall, 17 percent drove 11 to 20 miles to attend, 11 percent drove between 21 to 40 miles to participate and 10 percent of the participants were from out of state. Six percent drove 41 or more miles. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM