Baseball and softball games, kids on the playground, people running the track, and ultimate Frisbee – all of these can be seen and heard in Winston-Salem’s Hanes Park. But in the future, some hope to add the sights and sounds of a new activity – Friday night football.
Frank Johnson is an R.J. Reynolds alumnus and former halftime announcer at the school’s football games. Johnson is excited about a new proposal that would give his alma mater a 4,500-seat football field of its own on its Hanes Park campus. Johnson remembers going to his first football game and what it meant to his family. “My single parent mom was looking for a great family activity and to get the kids out of the house, so we went. We hear so many people complaining about not having enough face-to-face, engaging conversations, and you get that with Friday night football or a Saturday afternoon lacrosse game or soccer games.”
But some nearby residents don’t like the idea of building a stadium in Hanes Park. Stacey Bailey Pharr lives near the park in the West End neighborhood and opposes the project. She says the structure seems too big for the space and adds, “Even those of us who don’t have children are hearing a lot about Brunson elementary needing a new home, and suddenly we’re contemplating building a stadium for a school that already has a stadium.” Stacey also notes that parking near the proposed building site is already at a premium.
Stacey found out about the stadium project through Facebook and friends, and that’s where she saw “SaveHanesPark.com.” The website is devoted to educating people on the project and ways in which they can voice their opposition and includes a petition. Michael Klotz has already signed it. He and his wife are on the West End Association Board and live two blocks from Hanes Park. In his opinion, the project would “compromise the green space of the park. It’s going to make it a more loud, crowded, and less pleasant environment than it currently is.” In his opinion, the money for the stadium “would be better spent on the education of students in North Carolina.”
The stadium would cost about 8 million dollars in total with 5 million provided by private funds and the remaining 3 million by taxpayer money. The stadium is likely to be discussed at the June 26th Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board meeting (6:00 p.m.). Chairman of the Board Donny Lambeth who has said he is personally in favor of the proposal also says that discussions about a new Reynolds football stadium in Hanes Park are still in the early stages and that both sides need to be heard.
