Don’t miss out on the Free Concert this Friday at 8pm by the Jesters, a pop-rock group. See you all there!
Family activities start two hours before the 8 p.m. concert by the Jesters, a pop-rock group. Officials will hand out slices from 10 birthday cakes with scenes of the park on top.
Two decades ago, Marietta Square’s park was down on its heels. Elm disease had killed many of the trees. The fountain and bandstand were in bad shape, and there was more dirt than grass.
At a private reception last week, Jim Glover said the park had been in bad shape for many years. He remembers his mother telling him as a child not to play there because he would get too dirty. The Glovers, one of Marietta’s founding families, gave the land to the city in 1852 with the stipulation that it always be used as a public park.
Glover said his grandfather, James Bolan Glover, fought Marietta’s attempts to turn the land into a parking deck in the mid-1960s. Public sentiment in favor of the park prompted a legal battle to save the property, he said. Rumors about the parking deck continued, though, through the years.
Developer John Williams said he heard the park was in jeopardy in 1985 when he was acting chairman of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. He got behind efforts to renovate the park with a $250,000 gift and a pledge to maintain landscaping for 10 years. Private and corporate gifts and city funds accounted for $500,000 more.
“I am glad I was a part of this. It’s a great public space for people to enjoy,” Williams said. “This is a great legacy for the city.”
