A sea of color could soon greet walkers at Burnt Corn Creek Park — not to mention drivers passing over the creek near the park.
The City of Brewton is hoping to secure a grant to plant wildflowers along the green boardwalk at the park and along the creek near the bridge, said city program director Connie Baggett.
“We were looking at ways to expand use of the park,” Baggett said.
One of the best ways, she said, would be to beautify it by planting wildflowers.
“We’ve selected some species we think are native to the area,” she said.
Those flowers will also attract butterflies — in effet creating a butterfly garden at the park.
The flowers would be planted the entire length of the boardwalk along the powerline, as well as an area near the bridge so that motorists on U.S. 31 can see the color.
Work to plant the flowers will be done by city employees as well as a group of Seventh-Day Adventists who have chosen Brewton as a site for volunteer projects. They will be in town on March 23 and will prepare the soil for the seeds.
“Basically, we’ll have about 11,000 hours of service” from the group, Baggett said. The 250 volunteers will spend four hours in Brewton and work on the wildflowers as well as other projects.
While beautifying the park is on the agenda, so too is improving the lighting there.
The city has a $20,000 grant for new lights — which is not enough to do what the city wants but will get under way the ability to hold events at the back of the park, where there is currently no electrical power.
“Our hope is to begin lighting the path and get a power source to the back part of the park,” Baggett said. “The No. 1 complaint we have when we hold events there is that it is too hot. But the back of the park has better shade and a better fiew. The view of the creek is amazing.”
The city also hopes to bring students to the park for outdoor learning — not only at the butterfly garden but through an archeological dig at the site near the boardwalk.
“It’s very popular to dig into the past,” Baggett said. “You can learn about people by looking at what they threw away.”
Students could also use those shards of glass they find to make art projects — expanding the educational opportunities, Baggett said.
“We hope to add a lot more volunteer opportunities,” she said.