SOUTH SHORE, Ky. — A civic club in South Shore, Kentucky, has a long-term plan for building up the city’s Rotary Park and is throwing a party to help the community get involved.

Cathie Shaffer, the incoming president of the South Shore Lions Club, said the party in the park on June 27 is the kick-off of what they see as a five-year-long project that is much needed to entertain the children, who often grow bored with the limited, and older, selection of playground options.

“The reason we are starting with playground equipment is that I take my great-granddaughter there and it’s very limited stuff,” she said. “It’s all older stuff, a few swings, a climbing structure and a long slide. In the smaller children’s area, it has a smaller slide and some bouncy horses. After a while, she gets bored and looks for flowers in the grass.”

A teeter-totter was taken out because it was deemed unsafe. Shaffer said their original goal was to try and raise $1,000 to replace the teeter-totter but then decided to try to go bigger.
Shaffer said the Lions Club ended up getting a $5,000 grant from a corporate donor, the identity of which they will announce during the party in the park.

The Lions Club’s goal is to put in a merry-go-round, replace the swings, add more bouncy horses and add a handicap swing. South Shore Mayor Cheryl Moore has received grants for benches and has applied for a grant for a walking trail in the park and will find out in the fall if the city has received the grant.

Shaffer points out that the park is the central gathering point for families in South Shore, since the elementary school and high school are two miles away from downtown.

“We aren’t expecting any child to walk along U.S. 23 to play at the park and there isn’t much to do in South Shore,” she said. “The park is very heavily used, so we looked and it and thought about what the park needed.”

She said they already have support from the community, even those that aren’t that close to South Shore. She said the City of Worthington has donated some picnic tables they had replaced with new ones purchased with grant money. Greenup County Executive Bobby Carpenter has offered some manpower to install the playground equipment when it arrives.

And there is an offer from a company to lay concrete from the park shelter to the handicap swing.

The South Shore park is the scene of many events including the South Shore Quilt Show, which brings people from all over the Tri-State, concerts and other small events throughout the summer.

“We just want to make this a place where families can come and have a better experience,” Shaffer said.

The Party in Park event will be 3:30–6 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27 at the South Shore Rotary Park, just off U.S. 23. The Lions Club hamburger wagon will be there and there will be live music by Larry Pancake at 4 p.m.

The Greenup Library will have their Bookmobile there to do crafts with kids. There will also be informational booths by Lions Club, Pathways Mobile Counseling Unit and the Greenup Gazette.