South Fentress Park Reservations Now Done At Courthouse

Fentress County residents looking to reserve space at the South Fentress Community Park will now do so at the County Courthouse.

County Executive Jimmy Johnson said last year, park officials stepped down after some 35 years and gave the county control over the park. He said until now, reservations were made by visiting the workplaces of a rotating group of volunteers. He said now people will visit the County Executive’s Office and make a reservation through the County Trustee.

“It’s just going to be a smooth transition,” Johnson said. “Maybe a little inconvenience for folks sometimes, but it’ll be all right here inside the Courthouse taken here and then when someone comes in to make a reservation, we’ll let the park superintendent out there get the reservation of where folks are supposed to be and this type of stuff and they’ll have a receipt that they have it.”

Johnson said county governments are required to keep a paper trail for financial transactions like these and going through the Courthouse is the most reliable way to do that. He said while former park officials had developed an organized volunteering system, this process would be more consistent.

“That way, it keeps people from saying, ‘I had this,’ or, ‘I paid this,’ or ‘I forgot to pay,’ or anything,” Johnson said. “So it’ll all be done at one time. You make your reservation, you make your payment, and you’ll have the date there on the reservation book to where you’ll be.”

He said when reserving space at the park through a local business, people were susceptible to running into complications because volunteers taking reservations were conducting business at their place of work when people arrived looking to place a reservation. He said with several families moving into the south end of the county, this will be a reliable way to ensure that they can rent space to walk, play sports, and gather under pavilions.

“In the Clarkrange area, that there is the only park that they have there unless you go to the elementary school and use their swing set and stuff like that,” Johnson said.

He said renting space at this park keeps people in the south end of the county from having to drive all the way up north to use City Park and the splash pad.