By Devonte Demby

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — Renovations to Memorial Park have left the area ready for residents to enjoy now, but also laid the foundation for the city’s 2016 yearlong birthday blast.

Crews with the Urban Youth Corps completed repairs to aging sidewalks and brick sidewalks within Memorial Park.

“We have been trying to get a lot of infrastructure improvements that has lacked for many years,” said Mayor Butch Brown.

Enhancing the appearance to Memorial Park, Brown said, comes with much purpose.

The City of Natchez is currently gearing up to celebrate its 300th birthday, and Brown said he felt Memorial Park could use improvements.

The city was awarded a grant through the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s Urban Youth Corps program to hire young individuals to work summer jobs with Natchez Public Works.

“This does not cost tax payers any money,” Brown said

The participants worked 40 hours a week and earned $7.25 an hour.

The Historic Natchez Foundation contributed benches for the city to use in the park.

“They have been anchored in the ground, so they can not be bothered,” Brown said.

Additionally, 300 goldfish were added to the fountain of Memorial Park.

Brown said the city’s next task is finding a way to keep the water clear to let the fish shine for residents.

“We are getting better at it,” Brown said.

Renovations to Memorial Park have been done in stages, because of a lack of funds to complete everything at once.

Renovations to Memorial Park began in 2012, working mainly on trimming the trees to get more sunlight throughout the park.

Brown hopes to have renovations complete by late 2015, just in time for the Tricentennial celebration.

“It’s a great project. We have done an immense amount of work,” Brown said. “We will look to re-trim the trees in late 2015 to have a new, fresh, greenish and groomed sunlit Memorial Park.”