Stories come to life in proposed Temple pocket park
By DAVID STONE | Artist renderings courtesy of the CITY OF TEMPLE
A scenic but rarely used parcel of land on West Barton Avenue in Temple may soon come to life with families, reading events and story-time characters.
Storybook Grove — a proposed pocket park that would serve as an anchor to an “Art Walk” linking downtown art projects — is part of a $75 million Places & Spaces capital improvement plan approved by the Temple City Council that will fund dozens of upgrades at 50 Temple parks between 2023 and 2027.
“This piece of land has huge potential,” said Assistant City Manager Erin Smith. “It’s located right next to KCEN’s studio and across Barton from Temple Public Library. The city purchased the land in November 2019 as a future park.”
“The possibilities are exciting,” she said. “Since it’s so close to the library, it could be used as an outdoor children’s story park. There’s even stumps where kids could sit and listen to stories.”
A trail through Storybook Grove would include functional statues of popular children’s characters from Charlotte’s Web, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Winnie the Pooh, Curious George, James and the Giant Peach, Where the Wild Things Are and Dr. Seuss books.
“This is still preliminary — nothing has been funded — but it could be an amazing place for families,” Smith said. “It has awesome potential.”
Storybook Grove, and other Places & Spaces park projects, will be funded by certificates of obligation bonds, according to City Manager Brynn Myers. Certificates of obligation debt are similar to general obligation bonds in their usage and retirement but do not require voter authorization and are not used for refunding debt.
The Storybook Grove project has a price tag of $2.1 million.
The future park is home to massive oak trees and open spaces, as well as a small parking area.
Smith said the park could be a starting point for a Temple Art Walk that would take pedestrians on a tour of downtown art projects.
These projects include four large murals and the current and future Art Trains.
Currently there are eight trains, including “Circa de Gato is Taken for a Ride” by Linda Lapierre, Traci Winter and Azeita Taylor; “Next Stop: Children’s Museum” by Lee Evans, Valerie Fore, Susan Chandler, Elizabeth Evans, Kate Evans, Emma Fore, Lydia Huffines, Patrick Chandler and Owen Chandler; “Re-Train Your Mind” by Jay Rivera; and “A Wish for the World” by Melanie Hudson; “Viva La Raza” by Mirando Lugo; “Wildflower Express” by Eddie Martinez; and “Precious Memories” by Susan Groveunder.
More trains are in the works, and eventually there will be at least 10 trains throughout downtown Temple.
“The city is looking into other art projects that could be included,” Smith said. “We would like to have some functional art — art that is nice to look at but also serves a purpose. It could double as a bench, a small play area or a bus stop.”
This “functional art” would be in high-traffic pedestrian areas such as Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe Plaza, The Yard food truck court, the proposed Farmer’s Market and the new MLK Festival Grounds, which will be home to the Bloomin’ Temple Festival and other outdoor celebrations beginning in April.
The MLK officially opens April 1 with a six-band concert featuring Temple’s own Eric Paslay and Lorena’s Holly Tucker.
According to Smith, Downtown’s public art displays will continue to grow.
“We are looking at more murals and some kinetic art that moves in the wind,” she said. “We want to create something special.”
