Nearly eight years after the idea was first conceptualized, Spring Hill Park officially opened to the public on Tuesday.

Several hundred people consisting of elected officials, county employees and citizens alike filled the room with joy and enthusiasm inside the new community building.

Alongside the community building, the park features a state of the art playground, walking trails, a play fountain, a community garden and pavilion and an 18-hole disc golf course. The park is located at 757 Lower River Road in Covington.

Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Marcello Banes welcomed everyone to the event, expressing his enthusiasm about the newest park in Newton County.

“We’re just excited, man,” Banes said. “We’re excited for this community.”

The project was first discussed in 2016 by the SPLOST committee and successfully passed as part of the 2017 SPLOST. Just over a year ago the county broke ground on the project.

One of the commissioners who has been hands-on in this project is District 5 commissioner Ronnie Cowan, who was in attendance for the opening. 

Cowan said that oftentimes the government is known to make assumptions on the wants and needs of the citizens. He said that this project, however, did not fall in that category, citing the support from the community.

“I’ve been in government for 40-something years,” Cowan said. “I’ve watched it do everything wrong. And this is one of the few things I think we have done correctly. We got the citizens involved and we got the community to tell us ‘What do you want?’”

District 4 commissioner J.C. Henderson has also been involved with the project. Henderson pushed for the park to have a community center, thanking project manager Jeff Prine for his work.

“This community center was made [as] a piece to this park… and it turned out great,” Henderson said.

County manager Harold Cooper also took to the podium to share his thanks with everyone in the room. Cooper said that his first town hall as county manager was the Spring Hill town hall at Good Hope.

That, according to Cooper, showed him what the Spring Hill community was all about.“What I saw during that town hall was community members vested in their community,” Cooper said. “And what I saw in that town hall were helpers opposed to hecklers. What I saw in that town hall were guiders of the project opposed to gaslighters.”

Several citizens were also key in making the project a reality.

This included Nece Martin-Lackey who Banes referred to jokingly as the “Mayor of Spring Hill.”

“I’m just excited to see what this park will do for our children and our community,” Martin-Lackey said. “I just want to thank everyone, again, for helping me to get on their [the commissioners] nerves and get this far.”

Another community member who was essential to the creation of the park was The Covington News’ 2024 Unsung Hero Fred Johnson.

A lifelong resident of the area, Johnson reminisced on when the park was just cornfields, but said he is glad to see this project come to fruition for the betterment of the community.

“I’m so glad it has changed from a farm to a park,” Johnson said. “I urge each and every one of us to let’s keep it [the park] nice.”

Community leaders then filed to the front of the new community building where Martin-Lackey officially cut the ribbon to signify the grand opening.

When looking back on what this project means for the community, Banes defined the new park as a symbol of unity. 

“This is what a true partnership looks like,” Banes said. “This is what it looks like when a community and the government comes together to partner on a project.”

Editor's Note: This event took place prior to the suspension of Newton County chairman Marcello Banes.