South Hancock Park courts refinished for summer
Residents in the southern part of Hancock County have no excuse for not playing tennis, basketball, softball, or walking, after the county resurfaced the courts at South Hancock Park, completing renovations at the park that have touched nearly every element there.
Contractors filled cracks and resurfaced the basketball and tennis courts, leaving them clean, colorful and ready for use.
“This is two coats of acrylic and re-striped,” said county judge-executive Johnny “Chic” Roberts. “We hope it prolongs the life of the tennis court and the basketball court.”
The resurfacing follows other recent work at the park, located off state Route 69 about 14 miles south of Hawesville.
“We’ve done some drainage work around their concession stand,” Roberts said. “Also we had some erosion beside the walking trail.”
Workers trimmed and removed trees along the trail and near the basketball court to prevent future problems.
“Little by little we jus try to keep general maintenance of those courts,” he said.
While Vastwood Park gets most of the attention, South Hancock Park offers plenty to do for people who don’t want to make the long drive north.
Along with the basketball court, tennis court and walking trail, it also has playground equipment for kids and a softball field, often the home of church league games and fundraising tournaments.
The county has also resurfaced basketball and tennis courts at Vastwood and at the Lewisport Boat Dock, which is county owned.
“We’re really blessed to have great parks in our county, we really are,” he said.
People are out using the parks now that the weather has improved and the threat of COVID-19 is slowly diminishing.
“Both times I was out there this week looking at it there was folks out there eating lunch and walking,” Roberts said of South Hancock.
“I think people are ready to get out,” he said, “even if some people don’t feel real comfortable being really close to people, but they can space (apart) there.”
By Dave Taylor
dave.hancockclarion
@gmail.com
