Bald Knob mayor working to improve parks
BALD KNOB — On the city’s second attempt, Bald Knob secured a grant that will fund improvements to Collison Park and the Bald Knob Sports Complex, a move the mayor hopes will allow the city to host district sports tournaments.
In a letter from Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Bald Knob Mayor Barth Grayson was notified that the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism Outdoor Recreation Grants Advisory Committee had awarded a $130,000 grant to the city. According to the letter, the grant will help the city build two picnic shelters with tables, improve the play area and build a play structure at Collison Park. The money will also allow the Bald Knob Sports Complex to install new lights for its softball field.
When asked how the city managed to secure the grant this time and not in 2020, Grayson said he wasn’t sure.
Councilwoman Mary Smith, who has been a member of the Bald Knob City Council for eight years and currently serves on the Parks and Recreation Committee, said it is difficult to tell how the department makes its decision.
“I don’t know how the people who sit on the board decide who gets the grants and who doesn’t,” she said. “There’s probably not always enough money to go around to every town. We are blessed to have gotten this [grant], but this was our second time to go after it.”
After facing lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, Grayson said, the Bald Knob community appreciates the grant.
“I had our parks taped off with
caution tape and closed because it made sense that’s how [COVID-19] would be spread,” he said. “I started getting calls just like Searcy did. … I was getting telephone calls from mothers and grandmothers saying, ‘Mr. Barth, what are we gonna do if the park is closed? These kids are driving us nuts, and we don’t have anywhere to take them.’”
Receiving those phone calls from families reminded Grayson how important Collison Park is for residents of Bald Knob, and that motivated him to improve the park.
“It is in a nice central location for the people to walk to,” Grayson said. “A lot of them walk because they don’t have a car, and if they have one car, then their spouse is going to work with it. A one-car family is still very common, and we have no-car families.”
Smith agreed with Grayson about the need to update Collison Park and the Bald Knob Sports Complex.
“[The City Council] met with the mayor and discussed what we thought a priority was here,” Smith said. “We have a really nice park where a lot of people gather for family gatherings and other events. We only have one pavilion with tables, so we thought it’d be a good idea to get more pavilions and tables for that area.”
When Grayson spoke to the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, he told them his No. 1 priority for Bald Knob was to install lighting for the softball fields. He explained to the board how the lack of lights prevents the city from hosting district tournaments.
“We are upgrading our sports complex because it is fairly new, no more than 10 years old,” Grayson said. “We have four fields, and all of them have lights except for one, and that’s the one we have to get lit so we can have district tournaments. Tournaments would bring more tourism.
“Parents and grandparents attend the tournaments, and they don’t just contribute ticket revenues, but they also contribute concession revenue. They also stop and get gasoline, stay for the night if it’s pretty far and, of course, eat at our restaurants. We’ve got really nice restaurants.”
Grayson said visitors and residents spending money at the tournaments and at local restaurants and hotels would provide a source of tax revenue for the city.
He said the city can expect to have tournaments by this summer.
“We’re ready to rock and roll,” he said. “We’ve already been contacted by Harding Academy to partner with them and the district tournament.”
The added revenue would help the city invest back into the facilities, Smith said.
“We can hold more tournaments, and when all that revenue comes in, we could help support the park by adding things and keeping our programs going,” she said.
Smith said the lights for the stadium will go a long way in supporting the Bald Knob Youth Program, a baseball league set up for youth in the city. The program has about 300 kids participating, has been a part of the community for the past 27 years and is volunteer-based, with the city’s park director working with the program.
Smith added that Bald Knob won’t be the only city that benefits from lights being installed at the complex.
“We have a lot of kids from other towns who play here, and our high school baseball team does, too,” she said. “It’s really a major thing here. We need to light that fourth field.”
After having success landing the grant to improve Collison Park and the sports complex, Grayson said, the city will continue to apply for other grants.
“Nothing moves fast, and you have to accept that and plan for the future,” he said.
Later this year, he will apply for a grant for the Bald Knob Lake View Park and hope to relive the success of 2021, Grayson said.
For information about the city of Bald Knob, visit www.arkansas.com/bald-knob.