Bell Tower Green Park set to open this Friday

Bell Tower Green, Inc. and the City of Salisbury are excited to jointly announce the opening of Bell Tower Green Park this Friday, Oct. 1, at 5 p.m.

After more than two years of construction, and four years of private fundraising and planning, the downtown park will finally be accessible to all in the community. The construction fence that has surrounded the park for more than a year will begin to be dismantled Friday morning. It is anticipated that the public will have access to the park by midday or later in the afternoon.

Dyke Messinger, President of Bell Tower Green, Inc., observed that this milestone has been a long time in the making. “Our board of directors and donors have been dreaming about this day for several years and we are just elated that it looks like we are going to have a beautiful weekend to finally allow the community to come explore its new park.”

The park was previously set to open on Friday, Sept. 10, but concerns over COVID prompted the cancellation of the grand opening as well as the Pops at the Post event that would have been held the next day. The extra time was used to complete a few of the previously unfinished tasks and give the recently planted grass a chance to continue to establish its root system.

Salisbury Parks and Recreation Director Nick Aceves is also excited about the opening of Salisbury’s newest park. “We are ready to finally see our citizens able to enjoy the beautiful new green space, interactive water wall, splashpad, and play area that we have been watching come out of the ground the past two years. We have a good team in place to take over management of the park, and we are grateful for the partnership we have had with the Bell Tower Green board to get to this point.”

The City of Salisbury Parks and Recreation staff and Public Works Department will take over maintenance and management of the park immediately. But work will continue on the park for the foreseeable future, notes Aceves. “There are several odds and ends that will continue to be worked on in the coming weeks and months to finish off some of the work that just couldn’t get completed before now for various reasons. But we did not want the public to have to wait a day longer than necessary to get the park open. We ask the public to bear with us in the weeks ahead as we continue installation and replacement work in the park while it is open.”

Messinger indicated that they had hoped that the park would be open sooner. “The permitting process and installation of some of our amenities took longer than expected, but our goal has always been to bring down the fence as soon as it was safe to do so. We have been saying that this park is about ‘cultivating community,’ and that can only happen when people can actually start enjoying it. We are ready to see this new park and our community flourish.”

The park will open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., beginning this weekend, with bathrooms closing at dusk and hours likely to fluctuate in the future. Rules for use of the park will be posted onsite, and information about reservations and use of elements in the park will be forthcoming.

For more information, contact 704-216-PLAY or visit www.belltowergreen.com.