By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
Back in May of 2021, the City of Athens hosted what to date have been my all-time favorite set of Town Hall Meetings that were known as Planapalooza. For several days, Athenians met together and discussed future developments for everything from commercial endeavors, downtown renovation, the redemption of Athens Creek, and for the purposes of this edition of Ronnie, the development of several parks.
Quality of life is one of the most important parts of running a city well, and in our case, parks have always served to “advance our “Athensness.” Studies have shown that cities are healthier, physically, mentally, socially, and economically when they have enough parks to service the city.
As of September 1, 2026, progress has been made on several fronts, the most notably on parks. The old Pilgrim’s Pride chicken plant that had been abandoned, then fell apart, and became a true blighted property, was deconstructed and then prepared to actually become a park. The park on Pryor Street has been named Sunrise Park, and phase one is just about finished. “We have a punch list to complete,” said Mayor Ronnie. Most notably there was some fencing that needed to be adjusted for what he called “the safety of our kids.” Sunrise Park will have a splash pad and all-access playground equipment, and there is more to come. There will be a proper “grand opening,” and everyone hates to use the word, “soon,” but it will have to do for now.
Moving on, the mayor revisited the topic of Easy Street, which has been slated to be a historical walking tour from the AL Veterans Museum down to Patton’s to Old Black Bear. In the 1930s, there were a number of African-American businesses all along the railroad tracks on the west side. The City of Athens is in the process of working with CRX Railroad to secure easements and other conditions to make it happen. There are improvement projects in play at Lincoln-Bridgeforth Park and plans for Swan Creek. The mayor also mentioned potholes. “We’ll take care of the parks AND the potholes,” said Mayor Ronnie.
Finally, we talked about what is going on at Five Points in Athens next to the Farmer’s Market. The medallion in the street is stunning. In addition, Jimmy and Audrey McMeans, owners of Baw Baw’s BBQ, have been busy at beautifying. Not only did they remodel the old church at Five Points that has become the restaurant, they planted grass, sunflowers, and cotton, and added picnic tables. And they have received a Main Street of Alabama Award for all their hard work. I spoke with Audrey and asked her if you have to be a patron of Baw Baw’s in order to use the picnic benches, and she looked at me like I just sprouted an extra head. She erupted with a friendly, “Of COURSE not!” I chuckled and said, “I figured as much, but wanted to make sure.” My conversation with the mayor had been by phone, and he had to roll…to Montgomery…to make Athens even more awesome.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
