Tift Park fencing gets facelift

ALBANY — Thanks to a strong partnership between government, business and the community, Albany’s Tift Park was the beneficiary of some significant improvements Tuesday as work crews put a few coats of new, white paint on fencing inside the downtown park.

The fence painting project was organized by the Friends of Tift Park, the organization responsible for spearheading the popular Tift Park Community Market, which is committed to working with the Albany Recreation and Parks department to help maintain and improve the park.

According to Stephen Brimberry, the chairman of the Friends of Tift Park, the organization’s chief mission is to “preserve, promote, and protect,” the park, and the fence painting project was another way of doing that.

Brimberry said the group had noticed the fencing inside the park, especially in front of the recreation and parks offices, was worn, so he reached out to his friend Steve Woods, the assistant manager at the Lowe’s Home Improvement in Albany, who in turn was able to get the company to donate the materials needed for the project.

Lowe’s ultimately donated about $275 worth of supplies, two five gallon buckets of paint, paint rollers and roller frames, and city employees did the painting.

“The Friends of Tift Park just wanted to preserve, protect and promote, so we kind of started with coming out here and seeing what the city could do and what people like myself could do, and what groups like Lowe’s could do, and it became a team effort,” said Brimberry. “It’s the city, the community and corporations like Lowe’s who have pulled this off today.”

In fact, Tuesday’s fence painting wasn’t the first time the city and the Friends of Tift Park have partnered with Lowe’s, as the company was also instrumental in another collaborative project at the historic park.

In 2014, Brimberry reached out to Woods about another project at the park and thanks to a donation of materials the city and the Friends of Tift Park were able to restore the gazebo that sits on the park’s grounds and again make it a recognizable part of the historic green space.

“The city had started their landscaping project in the park and the Friends of Tift Park asked if there was anything they could donate funds to to help with the project,” said Brimberry. “They said that project was already budgeted, but when it came time for the gazebo they asked the Friends of Tift Park for some help. We just made some phone calls to Lowe’s and they ended up giving us the paint and stuff. They spent probably $2,000 replacing boards and providing the paint.”

For Lowe’s getting involved in the Tift Park projects has been a way for the company to give back to the community in which it does business and Woods said the local store manager Diane Stover and the rest of the senior management has been pleased to have involvement.

“We appreciate Stephen and the Friends of Tift Park doing what they do,” said Woods. “Every year we allot a certain amount of money to give back to our community. Stephen reached out to us about doing the gazebo and we completed that in 2014. As time progressed we’ve continued to partner with Friends of Tift Park and now we’re doing the fence. Lowe’s is just a small part and we’re happy to be a small part from the gazebo down to the fence.”

From a personal standpoint, being involved in helping to preserve the park is something Woods also takes pride in having grown up in Albany himself.

“I’ve been here for 50 years plus, and I’m just glad to see people in the community coming together, preserving our heritage, what our forefathers did before us,” he said.

From the city’s perspective having the Friends of Tift Park spearhead park improvements, find partners like Lowe’s and provide volunteers, has helped save the city money while also improving an area of the city that is important to a lot of residents.

“They don’t charge for the Saturday market, but they do get donations from people,” said Yvette Brown, an employee with the recreation and parks department. “Stephen came and asked what they could do for us and wanted to know how they could help improve the area. It’s been a very good relationship.”

Friends of Tift member and volunteer Ben McCrary summed up the relationship succinctly, saying that the organization and the city working together paints an important picture for the community.

“There’s no negative, it’s all positive, on the city side and on the community side,” said McCrary. “It sends a message to the community that you can’t just sit around waiting for the city to do everything for you. You have to step up. If you want something in your community you have to step up and put forth the volunteer work.”