Friday's Internet Edition, May 09, 2008.
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“The name of the building is something that will be on the recreation committee’s agenda for our next meeting,” said Billy Freeman, director of the Thomasville Parks and Recreation Department. “We’ve had several suggestions, including Finch Field Community Building, Ball Park Community Center and Thomasville Community Building, but we want to give citizens the opportunity to have input.”
Freeman said anyone with a serious idea for a name for the renovated building, which for decades housed Johnson Veneer Co., can call Parks and Recreation at 475-4280, on weekdays from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. up to — and including — Monday May 5. The board will meet on May 6 and review the suggested names.
“The Finch Field expansion project has been a three-year process,” Freeman said. “It’s been a partnership between the city, some foundations and some businesses.”
According to Freeman, the city paid about a third of the cost of renovating the building, which stands across the street from a fire station and backs up to Finch Field. Entities supplying grants for this project were the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, the Doak Finch Foundation, the Thomas Austin Finch Foundation, the Brown Finch Foundation, the Thomasville Furniture Industries Foundation, Carolina Container Corp., Oakwood Furniture, Duke Energy Corp. and the High Point Community Foundation.
“We’ve got a little bit of sidework to do on the outside, but the inside is complete,” Freeman said. “We plan to have a ribbon-cutting in May and to open the building for use in June. Therefore, we will beat our deadline for completion by a couple of months.”
A one-third mile walking track in the area has been paved. A volleyball court with adjoining horseshoe pits will be set up on the Washboard Road side of the building and a playground is about to go up on the other side.
Inside are three finished rooms. The largest, almost 3,000 square feet can be used as a meeting room. There is a smaller meeting room that Freeman would like to see utilized by senior citizens. The building also contains a game room, which will have pool tables, ping-pong tables and, perhaps electronic games. An office will be staffed in the mornings. Could this nice facility house the Parks and Recreation office someday?
“We have talked about it, but, at this point and time, there will not be a full-time staff here,” Freeman replied. “But down the road, who knows what?”
Among other amenities on the grounds are a kitchen and shuffleboard will be set up in a currently unfinished room. There are more unfinished rooms in the building of which their use has yet to be determined. The finished rooms will be available for rental for weddings, reunions and other community uses.
“It’s going to be an excellent facility, not just for this part of town, but all of Thomasville,” Freeman said. “This building can serve a lot of different recreational and community needs.”
Staff Writer Kevin Reid can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 230, or at reid@tvilletimes.com.