This week our column will highlight our beautiful little park. Our Valley Home Park is the heart of our community and is a treasure for all of us to enjoy! Remember we all own our park. Thank you to all who have volunteered their time to help with the park, in any way. You are appreciated by a grateful community. Over the years so many folks have tirelessly worked on this beautiful little place! For those who may not know the history, our park now sits on the former location of the much loved Valley Home Community Center. The Valley Home Community Center served the Valley Home citizens for many, many years. Fifty years ago the Valley Home Community Center was still a thriving community meeting place. Weddings, receptions, birthday parties, school plays, 4-H meetings, and town celebrations, everything happened right there in the Community Center! One of our Valley Home residents remembers sleeping out in the yard and listening to the music from celebrations being held at the Community Center. What a great memory that must be! Sadly, as the years went by the Community Center needed more and more repairs. Finally the day came that saw the once thriving Community Center demolished! It was a sad day for many in Valley Home. As time went by citizens raised the much needed funds to bring our beautiful park to life! It is completely supported by our community and each of us is an owner of this little park. Over the years many people have given countless hours and supported many fundraisers to benefit the little park! I write this column to honor our beautiful little park and the hard work of so many. Sadly, during the last couple of weeks our park has been vandalized, boards knocked off, flowers stomped over, park picnic tables pried from cement floors, and more. It is sad to know that someone would do this to something we all love so much! Please when you pass the park at night, be aware of anyone doing harm. Remember this is ours, it’s up to each one of us to look out for our community and our park! On a positive note, we will be having a dinner fundraiser in September to benefit our park. More info to come!

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As always you may reach me by email at winniemullins51@gmail.com. Until next time, “Happy Trails to All!”