Fundraising efforts by the Friendship Park Advisory Committee to construct a state-of-the-art playground have been going well with nearly half a million dollars raised, but roughly $200,000 is still needed to prevent the City of Columbia from footing the bill.
As of July 18, the committee had raised just under $385,000 through Columbia Strong, which includes the dollar-for-dollar Patrick F. Taylor Foundation grant, along with business and personal donations.
The grant totals $300,000 with $130,000 received up front. The remaining $170,000 is a dollar-for-dollar match, and if the committee does not raise the full $170,000, it will not receive the full amount. To date, the committee has raised $125,000 and needs to raise $45,000 more to receive the full grant.
“I want to thank the generous sponsors who have donated so much,” committee member Aaron McKenzie said. “Once we (raise that $45,000), we should be around $475,000.”
In addition to the grant and fundraising by Columbia Strong, the Columbia Board of Aldermen, at the direction of Ed Hough before he left office, earmarked $250,000 for the park years ago.
One of the fundraising efforts is a “give my age” campaign in which individuals donate the matching dollar amount to their age. The committee has set up a temporary profile picture border for individuals who participate to encourage others. Individuals can use either PayPal or Venmo for the campaign, but the committee encourages donators to use PayPal because it allows the committee to keep the full amount while Venmo keeps a small percentage as a fee.
“Anything that we do and any funds that we raise is just that much more we can do for the park. If we stick with this and keep the momentum going, we can exceed the amount that’s on paper. The sky is the limit,” Mayor Justin McKenzie said. “If we want to see additional stuff (at the park), even at a later date, we just need to keep pushing this and raise these funds.”
More than $80,000 is being saved on installation costs thanks to Public Works Supervisor Brandon Turnage. At the recent Mississippi Municipal League Conference in Biloxi, Turnage won a putt-putt game that has 1-in-17,000 odds, winning free installation for part of the park project. The fine print stipulates the free installation only applies to products directly out of Planet Recess’ catalogue. Most of the equipment is custom-designed, but the installation cost is still dropping from $185,000 down to around $92,000.
The committee initially budgeted $470,000 for the playground equipment and shade structures, but the actual cost comes in around $550,000.
The removal of the STEM game, budgeted at $21,000 for the product, freight and installation, and the electronic game, which has a proposed cost of $19,000, was discussed to bring down the cost. Treynor McDonald of Planet Recess said both could be installed at a later date, and there were a couple of committee members who were in favor of taking that route, but the overwhelming majority preferred committing to raising more money to make the park as state-of-the-art as possible.
“Realistically, can we get to the sky?” one member asked.
City Engineer Jeff Dungan said the ballpark number that still needs to be raised is about $200,000.
Mayor McKenzie explained that the city is bringing in far more money than it expected with the tourism tax and revenue from The Yards, which could help offset the potential deficit if the fundraising goal isn’t met. He said when the city first proposed the 3% tourism tax, it was expected to generate $62,000 per month, but it now consistently brings in more than $100,000 with the most recent month generating $111,000. When The Yards opened, the hope was to have about 600 children to sign up to play. There were more than 950 who played this year.
“It’s just amazing to see what we can do. I don’t hesitate to think that we can do this. I may eat those words, but I believe we can do this,” he said.
“I believe it, too,” Alderwoman Anna Evans, a fellow committee member, added. “’The Yards couldn’t be built on RA Johnson.’ A man told me that on the radio when we did our interviews and said there is no way. He said, ‘Ma’am, I like your idea, but it will never happen in Columbia, Mississippi.’ I believed in what it was, and we fought hard to get The Yards on RA Johnson. And I believe it was for a reason, and I believe this park is for a reason. I believe in it.”
“This is a destination playground,” committee member Allison Foxworth added. “It is going to bring people to this town that will come, that will eat and that will shop.”
Mayor McKenzie said the city will scrounge up the funds one way or another. He said if the city is stuck with a sizable bill if the fundraising doesn’t come through, the money would have to come from the Christmas budget. He clarified that everything the city did for Christmas last year will still be in place regardless, but it could potentially limit adding to the festivities.
“This would only be one year it would set us back, then next year we could go back to adding to it,” he said. “But I think enough people in our community want to see this and just need to be encouraged on the right day, at the right time to give.”
Committee member Rene’ Dungan said individuals and businesses who are considering donating shouldn’t view it the same way they would as donating to a local sports team. She said it’s not just a one-time ask that only carries value for a few months. It will instead be a 25-year investment and will more than pay for itself during the park’s lifetime.
The Friendship Park Advisory Committee ultimately decided not to remove anything from the project and focus on fundraising.
