Campers, hikers, bikers and other vacationers who frequent Harrison Bay State Park, many of whom live in Georgia, have an easy way to make park improvements through Friends of Harrison Bay State Park.
“Catoosa floods it,” said Ringgold resident and organization secretary Diane Bice.
Bice said that North Georgia residents who vacation at Harrison Bay can take even more ownership of the park by joining the Friends group, whose streamlined abilities as a 501(c)3 keep donations with the local park and get results.
“It’s not Harrison people. It’s Harrison Bay people,” said park manager Don Campbell. “And they might live in Catoosa County or Ringgold or Dalton. It’s as many Georgia people here as Tennessee people.”
The Friends Front Porch, the group’s current project, is a remodeled amphitheater that gives camping families a bigger place to gather for picking and grinning, storytelling or Sunday morning worship services.
“This way everybody can come and listen,” said Friends secretary Diane Bice.
GET INVOLVEDCHURCHES- Harrison Bay State Park encourages local churches to organize on-site church services for overnight campers to attend Sunday mornings.Park manager Don Campbell said many campers leave Saturday evening or Sunday morning in time to go to church at home.”If you offer something like that it gives them another day in the park,” he said.BRICK LAYERS- The Friends group is looking for local bricklayers to help build the new fire pit.FRIENDS OF THE PARK- Friends of Harrison Bay State Park annual membership fees are $15 for individuals, $25 for families and $10 for students. Small businesses may join for $100 per year. Corporations may join for $500 per year. Friends groups attend state training conventions where they learn about fundraising, grant writing and how to increase membership.Friends of Harrison Bay State Park meets the third Thursday of the month at the park’s recreation hall. Volunteer Day is the third Saturday of the month.MORE INFORMATION- Call Deanne Morgan at 344-9216 or Bill Bice at 280-9619.COMING UPThe 3rd annual Friends of Harrison Bay State Park Friendsfest is Saturday, May 29 at the park, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The fundraiser will feature reptile and birds of prey demonstrations, music, boater safety classes and a blue bird nesting watch. High Strung dulcimer band will perform 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Twin Rivers bluegrass band will perform 3 to 5 p.m. Free admission but there is a small charge for food and games. All proceeds benefit the park.
The Friends group raised $3,000 for the amphitheater, a donation from the Judy Speer family, and organized the labor.
A soon-to-be-completed fire pit nearby will give those hungry groups a communal place to roast a hot dog or warm their hands in fall.
“It offers a central location for the campers to meet and enjoy the outdoors,” said park manager Don Campbell.
Though the park is state-funded, “most of that is for maintenance. It’s not for additions,” Bice said.
Campbell said the 501(c)3 Friends group, founded in February 2008, provides a streamlined process that gives loyal donors and volunteers results.
“They feel almost an ownership-type feeling,” he said. “It’s like, ‘We’ve done this. This is our park.’ “
Adding family-friendly amenities encourages families to keep returning to the park, Campbell said.
“The ones that grow up in the park feel more connected to the parks,” he said. “It’s kind of a legacy.”
He said Friends projects also encourage different brands of outdoor enthusiasts to branch out and work on each other’s projects, like a boater helping with a bike trail.
“Next month maybe it’ll be something on his side of the park,” he said.
Though money may buy benches or fire pits, the projects go nowhere if there’s no one to build them.
“To me, the most important thing they donate is time,” Campbell said of the Friends organization.
Monitoring Bear Trace’s 48 bluebird houses – logging information about eggs, hatch time and fledge time – doesn’t cost a dime, and the work helps keep the course in compliance with Audubon Society certification, Campbell said.
For its next project, Friends of Harrison Bay State Park has big dreams to wean Bear Trace golf course off all commercial electricity, starting with all-solar-recharged golf carts.
“Being part of the department of the environment, that’s such a good idea,” Campbell said.
Other projects will include renovating the A-frame camp store, the marina storage building and the 4.5 miles of bike trails.