City of Perry lifts ban on Perry alumni group, organizer prepares to move forward

PERRY — Last month, the City of Perry prohibited a Perry High School alumnus from hosting events at city facilities after an unofficial Perry High School alumni tailgate. After a meeting with the organizer, the city decided to reverse the prohibition. 

Kirenski Wilkerson has been on a rollercoaster since the event, but is aiming to have a better relationship with the city. 

After he met with City Manager Robert Smith and department heads on Monday, Nov. 24, Wilkerson said he felt the meeting went well. He said going into the meeting, he had hopes there would be a resolution where he could move forward with the city. 

Wilkerson shared that Smith was great and made sure class representatives were comfortable. 

The day after the meeting, Smith sent an email letting everyone know the prohibition was reversed and Wilkerson is allowed to reserve rentals moving forward. 

In the email, Smith included the reasons for the decision, including: 

• Willingness to work with the city in rectifying rental issues that occurred at Heritage Oaks Park. 
• Proactive and good-faith efforts on behalf of Wilkerson and group representatives to engage with the city. 
• Administration’s perception that the event hosted by the Perry Alumni group was well-intentioned and positive. 

Wilkerson also felt their transparency led to the decision. He said the event meant a lot to the community and still receives positive feedback from people who attended the tailgate.

However, he wants to change the negative narrative of the event given its success. 

“We’re trying to figure out how we can move forward, and working with the city and also changing the narrative,” he said. 

During the meeting, Wilkerson said Smith is willing to move forward.

Wilkerson did not like that he was banned in the beginning, but he’s glad it was resolved. He felt lifting the ban was needed because the tailgate brought the community together. 

“[With] the ban being released it was a lot taken off of me because I literally planned this event,” he said. 

Wilkerson said he is prepared to show the city they can work together and make sure the previous allegations are not repeated. He hopes that next year’s alumni tailgate will have more resources from the city. 

“I kind of look at it as a lesson learned from both. On my side and also the city’s side,” he said.

Wilkerson also hopes to “repaint the picture” surrounding the negativity of the event and the city’s help to change the narrative. 

He shared that he is unsure of who decided to ban him, but he believes the city realized they went too far. Moving forward, he hopes to make the alumni tailgate an annual event and have the city be a support system. 

“I just really want to make sure there’s a positive light to it now. There’s different things on [social] media that I constantly see that’s negative. I can always respond to certain things but I no longer want to do that,” he said. “I feel like once we move forward I really think the city should really be able to help out in repainting the picture into a positive light.”

Wilkerson is currently in the process of planning next year’s alumni tailgate. The city has offered alternative locations, but he hopes to still host the event at Heritage Oaks Park. 

He said it is going to take more in-person conversations to make sure the event is successful once again. 

“I think we can definitely, as an organizer and the city, we can really work together in making this successful for the years to come,” he said.