It's been so nice to see the little park with the renovated fountain in
Florence center getting a lot of use this summer. It's in kind of an
awkward spot, essentially an island with no real way to get to it
without crossing a busy street (it's in the center of the area around
the Civic Center, VFW, etc), and I wondered how or if anyone would
actually ever hang out there.

The fountain was restored last year after city councilor Ray LaBarge gave the city a gift to bring the fountain back to life. He had voted to close it decades ago and said he always felt bad about it, especially when he drove by and saw it standing neglected.

Almost every time I walk by it now there are people sitting around the fountain -- mothers and their babies spashing in the water, young teens laying in the grass, older people cooling off on the benches.

A lovely new Florence hangout -- I have a fantasy that we expand the park by getting rid of that road that merges with N. Main Street in front of the VFW...it would make the park easier to get to, eliminate that sometimes-contentious merge (I saw two cars battling it out there the other day -- both drivers on their cell phones, both honking at full blast), and get rid of some unnecessary pavement.