Before the end of this year, a new attraction is set to open in the park next door to Leon County's Eastside branch library. The project was chosen by this year's community catalyst team organized by the Knight Creative Communities Institute, more commonly known by its inititials KCCI.
One of the team members is Jordan Jacobs, who sa elected officials recently signed off on the project.
"On the March 8th Leon County Commission meeting, they unanimously approved our concept for the year. We're calling it 'Fully Booked Tallahassee' and it's a placemaking project to create literary-inspired exhibits along the trail at Pedrick Pond Park."
For those not familar with that particular location:
"It is a nearly 1 mile trail adjacent to the Leon County Eastside Branch Library, so it makes it the perfect spot to get people the opportunity to not only get outside, get out on the trail, get some exercise and also connect with the library that's there."
Jacobs said there will be a number of facets to the project.
"One of them is to have this big, iconic installation at the park that becomes that backdrop. So when someone's coming to Pedrick Pond, they know they need to get their photo there. We want it to be a place where book clubs want to meet, where schools want to come out and have field trips and that really encourages the library to take some of their programming outside. The second aspect we're looking to do is to create a story trail, where people read a book on signs as they walk around the park and they have to complete that loop to get to the end of the story."
And now, said Jacobs, the Fully Booked Tallahassee Project is off and running.
"The first thing we're looking to do is to identify a local artist to design that iconic installation. And so we have a request-for-proposal out right now. It is through May 1st, so interested artists can provide their proposal of what they recommend that final artwork look like."
More information about that is on the KCCI website: https://kccitallahassee.com. As to the project timeframe:
"Community catalysts are put in place for a year. So absolutely it's our goal that by the end of December to be having our holiday party and celebrating this beautiful sense of place that's come to life for our community."
And did we mention? A "hammock garden" will be another component of the trail for those who like to combine literature and lounging.
