Newly appointed as the director of East Ridge's Parks and Recreation Department, Adam Wilson is enlisting residents' help to bring new events and programs to the area.
Working with city officials, businesses and community members, Wilson hopes to bring a citywide festival to East Ridge, complete with a theme that showcases an aspect of the city's personality, similar to LaFayette, Ga.'s Honeybee Festival, which is a nod to the number of beekeepers in the North Georgia area.
"It's an idea that will have to be formed and cultivated amongst a lot more people than just me," Wilson said, who lives in Chickamauga, Ga. "I just want to get the conversation started."
He added that he hopes to start those talks sometime within the next year. The sizable timetable will allow him to place the focus on perfecting the details rather than rushing to announce a date for the festival, said Wilson.
"This is not something that I want to just throw together. I want it to be a really well thought out plan," he explained. "I've seen other places that try to throw things together in three weeks' or six weeks' or three months' time, and it just doesn't work that way. It's something you have to rally the community behind."
The goal for now, he said, is to build a moderate yet exciting event, then grow it incrementally each year, inviting more well-known headliners while seeking to attract and accommodate a larger audience.
The new recreation director is also hoping to develop more activities for seniors, starting by bringing pickleball to East Ridge in about six months.
The game is played similarly to tennis but on a smaller, badminton-sized court. Brandishing special paddles, players aim to hit a ball that bears resemblance to a wiffle ball over a low net.
Created in 1965, the game is marketed as being challenging yet accessible, and Wilson called it "one of the fastest-growing sports among active seniors 55 and older," who make up more than 16 percent of the city's population, according to 2016 U.S. census data.
"The movements are not as strenuous on the seniors' bodies as other sports some younger individuals may take up," he explained. "There's not as much movement because it's almost similar to table tennis, yet it's still a fast-paced game."
As he moves forward, Wilson said he intends to make community feedback a priority.
"Without our community behind all this, then it really is just one or two people making decisions, and we want to be implementing activities and programs that our community wants us to do, and not just something that employees or a select few people want to do," said Wilson. "We want to be all inclusive, we want to be diverse, and try to offer something for everybody."
Wilson invites community members to share their ideas for additional programs or improvements by contacting him at awilson@eastridgetn.gov.
Email Myron Madden at mmadden@timesfreepress.com.