Harrington Center dedication is Saturday, in LaFayette

The city of LaFayette will dedicate and rename a municipal park building at 638 S. Main St. as the Harry and Sue Harrington Center at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 16.

The most important step in the birth of the LaFayette Recreation Department in 1964 was hiring leadership that would nurture the young department forward.

Harry Harrington was chosen as the first director of recreation and Sue Harrington as the first program director.

The Harrington’s would not only be there for the birth, they would cultivate the growth of the Recreation Department. By 1969, the LaFayette Recreation Department would boast of three new centers at Municipal Park, Lowell Greene Park and the Max Stoker Community Center for a total of 26,000 square feet of floor space and more than 60 acres of high density recreation areas.

Max Lockwood said of the Harrington’s, “The success of the LaFayette Recreation Department and facilities is a testament not only to their hard work and dedication but also believing in their dream.”

LaFayette was taught how to swim, cook, sew, hit a baseball, shoot a basketball and throw a football by the Harringtons.

That is why city officials invite everyone to celebrate the Harrington’s dedication to LaFayette and all the lives they touched.