City of Perry adds kid-friendly upgrades to Welcome Park 

PERRY — The City of Perry has made playful upgrades to Welcome Park as they and the Main Street Advisory Board held a ribbon-cutting Thursday. 

The upgrades include floral-inspired musical instruments and a new picnic table. 

Chairman of the Main Street Advisory Board, Valerie Moore, said the goal is to bring more people to Downtown Perry from the local, state, and national levels. 

She mentioned that part of the initiative to add these upgrades to Welcome Park is to have something fun that families can do with their children. 

“What we realize is that the core memories we’re making with the young people today would be the adults here in 20-30 years,” she said. “We’re so fortunate that here at Perry that the city has seen fit to include greenspaces for us all over Perry and downtown.” 

Moore said the green spaces allow citizens and visitors to “stop and smell the roses” and take a moment as they go about their day. She thanked the Downtown Development Authority and the Perry CVB for making this possible. 

Mayor Randall Walker mentioned he and the city have discussed creating something that draws families downtown and gives children something to do. 

“I think [Welcome Park] is a perfect setting for that, and I expect you’re going to add additional stuff here for the children to play with as we go along,” he said. “I really appreciate the effort and the vision you have at the Main Street Advisory Board.” 

Downtown Manager Alicia Hartley feels wonderful to have these upgrades on display for the public, elevating Welcome Park from a “passive” park. 

“We’re happy to be able to add some engaging elements that create a little bit more of a destination and put it on people’s radar as they visit downtown,” she said. [These upgrades] allow people to linger longer, whether they have small children, if they’re looking for a place to sit down, or they can work remotely from our picnic tables, so it gives a little something for everybody.” 

Hartley said the city identified places around town that could use upgrades as part of the Georgia Economic Placemaking Collaborative. Ultimately, Welcome Park was one of those places. 

“We [asked ourselves], ‘What can we do here?’ and, ‘What are some investments we can make that will be permanent and not have heavy maintenance?’” she said. “From that became the musical instruments and the picnic table.” 

Welcome Park is located on 1033 Macon Road in Historic Downtown Perry.