Lykins Park is gaining a reputation in music circles as a great place to hold concerts, and will be hosting another one this weekend.
Country artist Colt Ford is bringing his Declaration of Independence tour to Winchester Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The Winchester/Clark County Parks and Recreation Board approved the group using the park Monday at its regular meeting.
Clark County Attorney Brian Thomas, who presented the group’s request to the board, said he received a call “out of the blue” about a month ago from Average Joe Entertainment about the use of Lykins Park.
“They were so impressed with Lykins as a venue when they came last year for the John Michael Montgomery Country Fest that they asked if they could come back and do a concert with Colt Ford,” Thomas said. “My only involvement with this is that I took the call and told him I would bring it to the board to handle it. After talking to Charlie Eury last month, I took the contract you wrote for the Country Fest and pared it down from seven days to a 24-hour period at a cost of $1,500, and sent it to them to sign. They’re sending it back to me tonight. He’s coming this Friday night and he’s excited about it.”
Thomas, who helped organize the Country Fest, said he had received several calls from other artists about using the park as well.
“Lykins Parks is starting to get a reputation as a concert venue because of the way it sits and the success we’ve had with concerts before,” Thomas said. “I’ve had a number of agents call and ask about getting the park for stop off concerts between other dates they have. I think it’s something the parks department can really utilize in the future.”
Tickets for the concert can be purchased on the Colt Ford website at www.coltford.com.
In other business the board:
— approved hiring the staff for the department’s annual summer day camp in College Park. Michael Cox was approved as day camp director, and eight staff members — four men and four women — were also hired. No assistant director was hired this year. The board also approved using the day camp staff to assist with the annual July 4 celebration. Cost of the day camp this year will be $5 per camper, up from $2.50 last year. The money is used to cover cost of transportation for field trips during the camp.
— approved establishing an assistant aquatics manager/head life guard position. The person will assist Aquatics Manager Michelle Franzetti. Parks Director Jeff Lewis said the person would be trained to replace Franzetti if she should leave. The position will be filled internally from a pool of head life guard already on staff.
— heard a request from Alisha Henderson, coach of the George Rogers Clark High School swim team, to begin a new swim team to act as a feeder team for the high school program. The team would not be in competition with the high school team or the Marlins team that also uses the pool. The move is the first step for the team in its effort to be accepted by USA Swimming as a competitive team. The team would use two lanes at the pool for 1 1/2 hours at a cost of $12 per lane per hour.
— approved hiring Aaron Wilson as a summer maintenance worker to replace a worker who left.
— heard an update from Tim Smith on the progress of preparations by the July 4 Celebration committee. Smith said fundraising for the event was progressing, but there was still a ways to go. Musical acts for the concerts have been scheduled, as well as food vendors and activities for children.
— heard a report from City Manager Ken Kerns on the status of the $75,000 Land and Water Conservation Fund grant application for the Kroger Soccer Complex. The application has been submitted, Kerns said, and he expects to hear something about it in about a month.
Contact Bob Flynn at bflynn@winchestersun.com.
