This Holiday Season, Parrish Community Park Is Doing the Job of a Town Square

When Parrish wants to gather in one place, where does it go? There's no courthouse lawn and no Main Street with a bandstand. For the next six weeks, the answer is a county park at 7550 Fort Hamer Road.

On Nov. 11 the Veterans Day ceremony ends there. On Dec. 13 Hometown Christmas fills it. Over the past three months, Manatee County has also set aside money to put a community garden inside the park and to dress up the roundabout and corridors that lead to it. The one thing still missing is an indoor room to go with the lawn, and the Parrish Civic Association wants that built on land right next door. Each item on this season's calendar points back to the same 11.5 acres.

Eleven and a Half Acres Doing a Town's Work

On paper, Parrish Community Park is a fairly modest neighborhood park. The county lists an amphitheater for community events, a seasonal splash pad, a playground, a boardwalk and a multipurpose trail. The rentable pavilion has eight tables that seat 64 people, plus two charcoal grills, with restrooms nearby.

The county describes the amphitheater as built for community events and gatherings, and this season's calendar puts it to work. Pavilion reservations go through the county's parks reservation system.

Nov. 11: The Roundabout Becomes a Parade Route

The Parrish Civic Association is putting on its 2nd Annual Parrish Veterans Day Parade on Wednesday, Nov. 11. The route treats Fort Hamer Road like a main street. Here's how the morning runs, according to the PCA:

1. 8:30 a.m. Parade entries stage in the Parrish Community High School student parking lot.
2. 10 a.m. The parade leaves the Fort Hamer roundabout, heads to Erie and loops back down Fort Hamer.
3. About 11 a.m. The ceremony starts at Parrish Community Park.

The event is free. The PCA lets entries hand out beads and candy along the route, so children lining Fort Hamer will likely want a bag.

This year the parade may also debut something new. The county release on the September funding package said the goal was to have "an initial group of veteran banners ready in conjunction with the community's Veterans Day activities in November." PCA President Jennifer Hamey told the Tampa Bay Beacons that the plan was to unveil 10 to 12 banners at the parade. The banners will honor fallen heroes, veterans and active-duty military, and they'll be displayed along Erie Road and U.S. 301. She said residents could apply for a banner at no charge through the Parrish Civic Association.

The County Is Paying to Make the Roundabout Feel Like a Center

The banners are one piece of a larger package. On Sept. 1, the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners approved Budget Amendment Resolution B-26-105. It moves $558,100 out of reserves in the Parrish Tax Increment Financing Fund and into projects in the Parrish TIF District.

The county added $6,500 more from the same reserves for wayfinding.

Most of the money goes to the approaches. The roundabout where the parade begins gets new landscaping, and the banners and signal-box wraps are meant for the corridors around it. Hamey told the Beacons the signal-box wraps will carry historic renderings of Parrish and that three historical signs will welcome visitors. The largest share, the welcome signs, goes toward telling people when they've arrived somewhere.

At-Large Commissioner George Kruse put it this way in the county's announcement: "This is exactly what TIF dollars are intended to do—reinvest funds generated within a community back into that community in a way residents can see and experience." The same release says designs, locations and schedules for each project are still being finalized as the work moves ahead.

A Garden on the North Side of the River

The garden is the one project that adds a new reason to visit the park itself. The rest dress up the roads around it. The Tampa Bay Beacons reported Oct. 27 that the county and the local University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension are planning the garden for Parrish Community Park. It will have individual plots plus common areas with fruit trees that members can harvest.

The county program began in 2015. It runs three gardens now, with a fourth coming at Alderwood Park near Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. Parrish would be the fifth, and the first north of the Manatee River. David Shurmer, the county's parks operations manager, told the Parrish Civic Association, "There was a need north of the (Manatee) River, we don't have any."

The membership terms are simple. An annual $25 membership covers a plot, tools, water and access to local expertise. Mack Lessig, a UF/IFAS horticulture agent, said members get weekly gardening tips and ongoing education. The gardens also hold workdays that are open to the public.

The Parrish garden will have its own design. County and UF/IFAS staff collected design ideas from residents at the PCA's October meeting. Carmine DeMilio, the county's director of parks and grounds, noted that "Not every garden is exactly the same," and that plot sizes, fruit tree varieties and educational signage can vary. More details on the county's existing gardens are on the UF/IFAS Manatee community gardens page.

Dec. 13: Fitting Christmas on the Lawn

Five weeks after the parade, the park has a bigger crowd to hold. Parrish Hometown Christmas runs Sunday, Dec. 13, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Parrish Community Park, and admission is free. The PCA lists Santa, children's activities, entertainment, games, market shopping and food.

The vendor rules show how tight the space is. A committee approves each vendor, and the PCA may cap categories to avoid duplicates, which keeps the market's mix of handmade makers, local market vendors, Parrish Area Business Association members and community organizations balanced. Food trucks and food-service tents are handled separately because of space and access limits. That's a lot to ask of an 11.5-acre park. Vendors can email Angie Marinacci at [email protected], and Sabrina Hoops handles sponsorships and general questions.

The season's other big Parrish draw happens on a train. The Florida Railroad Museum's North Pole Express runs on select evenings from Nov. 27 through Dec. 22, and most trains leave at 5:15 or 7:15 p.m. The museum describes a 45-minute ride each way, and the whole outing takes about three and three-quarter hours. On Dec. 13 the two overlap. Hometown Christmas runs until 8 p.m., while the train departures and the nearly four-hour outing fill the same evening hours, so the market and the train cannot both be done in full that night.

The Room Parrish Still Doesn't Have

The park is outdoors, and nothing in the $558,100 package puts a roof over a gathering space. The Sept. 1 budget amendment includes no money for a community center.

The Parrish Civic Association is pushing for one anyway. In August, the Tampa Bay Beacons reported that nearly 60 residents had written letters supporting a community center, and that the PCA planned to deliver them to county commissioners with a request for funding. The site the association wants is next to Parrish Community Park, on land once set aside for a park expansion before that funding was withdrawn.

Hamey told the Beacons that Parrish has few places for people to gather, especially young people and seniors. "They built a gazillion houses and now a gazillion apartment complexes and there are no movie theaters and we're just now getting restaurants," she said. She said the town had a hub like this until the YMCA downtown closed several years ago, and nothing took its place. In the plan she described, the center would give local nonprofits room for meetings and services, and it would offer space for bridal and baby showers, exercise classes, workspace and youth programs. The association has been looking at community centers in Palmetto, Myakka City and Rubonia for design ideas.

Picture the center where the PCA wants it and the plan comes together. The roundabout would get landscaping, the roads leading in would get banners, the park would get its garden, and the room next door would handle what the amphitheater can't. That last piece is still a proposal. Residents who want to add a letter can email [email protected] or write to the Parrish Civic Association at 7216 U.S. 301 N., Suite 120, Ellenton, FL 34222.

If you're following how Parrish fits into the wider northeast Bradenton area, our Bradenton Northeast neighborhood guide and our look at how the SR 64 corridor is becoming a main street give you the rest of the map.

From the parade to the Christmas market, the Argelia Vidal team will be watching these Parrish projects as they take shape on Fort Hamer Road. If you'd like to know how the new garden, banners and roundabout work might affect your home or your plans, we're glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.