City spruces up park
A small, nearly forgotten park in downtown Uniontown could once again become a place where people can enjoy a little serenity by the water fountain or sit and eat lunch away from busy workplaces. Lions Park, a triangular bit of green space at the corner of South and Church streets adjacent to the city’s first parking garage, recently has received some overdue attention. Mayor Ed Fike and city workers fixed the cracked cement basin and got the fountain working by installing a new water pump.
The next step is to remove the old shrubbery and plant some new shrubs to spruce up the park, city officials said.
“It was quite a place,” said Ross DiMarco, a longtime member of the Uniontown Lions Club who also served on the club’s international board of directors. “A lot of people sat there and ate lunch.”
The Lions had the park built and turned it over to the city for maintenance 30 years ago, he said.
“We had quite an investment,” DiMarco said.
The park was maintained for a while until about five years ago when the city shut off the water in the fountain because of a severe drought that struck the area.
DiMarco said he questioned the decision to turn off the water because a pump fed the fountain with water stored in an underground tank and it did not use fresh water. The same water was used over and over again.
The cement for the basin was poured in two sections and a little water used to seep out, but water was periodically poured in to replace what was lost, he said.
The park seemed to have been forgotten after the water was shut off. DiMarco said skateboard riders or vandals destroyed the four cement and wood benches the Loins placed in the park.
“Some people are out to destroy everything nice,” DiMarco said, adding that he said he would like to see some new benches in the park.
Once, while the fountain was working, someone put laundry detergent in the basin, causing it to overflow with suds, he said.
Fike and city workers installed a liner in the cement basin to prevent water from escaping through cracks, painted it and installed a new pump. A timer operates the fountain from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. New shrubbery is coming next.
“It’s an added attraction,” Fike said. “It hadn’t worked for a long time. We’re bringing back things that were destroyed, blighted or abandoned.”
DiMarco and other club members said they didn’t know the work had been done.
“I’m really happy if it’s fixed,” Lions Club member Eric Dolfi said. “If they did fix it, we greatly appreciate it. It’s a nice for people to eat lunch at work.”
The original pump broke some time after the city turned off the water so the Lions bought a new one and give it to the city, but it was lost, Dolfi said.
He said the Lions also bought a flagpole for the park and gave it to the city to install, but he doesn’t know what happened to it.
If the city restores the park, Dolfi said he would consider moving the club’s movie night there from its current location in the East End United Community Center.
He said the club sponsors free movies and provides the popcorn and drinks. About 60 people attended the fist movie night, the second one featuring Disney’s “Bolt” was held Friday and a third movie, Disney’s “Wall -E” or “Finding Nemo” will be held in August. Calvin ?Tooter? Reid of Uniontown walks past the fountain near the Uniontown parking garage. The fountain and the park are being spruced up by city workers. Ed Cope/Herald-Standard