The final two concerts are coming up for the Idabelle Firestone Series at

Firestone Park. A very special and unusual performance by the Western Reserve Ballet Company is set for this Sunday, Sept. 21 with the popular Texas Tenors scheduled for the following Sunday, Sept. 28. The ballet is to be performed outdoors at Idabelle’s Gathering Place in Firestone Park at 3 p.m. The Tenors will offer two shows at Columbiana High School at 3 and 7 p.m. There are no tickets and seating is first come first served. Hope you will plan to join us as we wrap up our third season of concerts.

After two years and more delays, the Senior Courts are now under construction! Drainage problems, bureaucratic delays, and a bit of political intrigue all playing a role in the delays, we now see Dynamic Structures at work readying the ground for shuffleboard, boce, and corn hole courts. Dedication will be to Perry Kyser, who for 25 years managed the park in its earliest days.

Those of you who walk the park regularly must have noticed a red truck and its crew of three working their way through the many beds and planting areas needing care. Led by Skip McCullough from Meadowbrook Nursery with his crew of two or three, they have spent 48 hot summer days keeping the landscape in good order. Weeding, deadheading, pruning, watering, fertilizing, and replacing plants, flowers, trees and shrubs, they have put in 750 hours in much needed maintenance. Funded by the Bradford and Patricia Tingle Foundation, this arrangement was necessitated when the city/park officials declined to assume care. A need for a qualified maintenance employee was also a factor in looking to an independent contractor. Ready now for the planting of spring bulbs, and perhaps continued watering, Firestone Park’s landscape is under excellent care.

The building at 246 East Park Ave. in Columbiana is undergoing its final preparation for an opening in early October. Called the Firestone Legacy and Visitor Center it is the home location for two 501c3′ organizations which support the park and its landscape and activities. The Restoration and Beautification Committee, known for its work on the Clock in Columbiana circle as well as the Restoration of Firestone Park, and the Firestone Park Cultural and Custodial Committee responsible for this year’s Art Show as well as the Idabelle Firestone Concert Series, and the care of the landscape features of the restored park, are the organizations housed therein along with a visitor center museum.

A meeting is set for Saturday, Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. on the opening day for the Legacy Center, as we have named it. It will be a meeting to seek community members interested in becoming “Friends of Firestone Park.” With the park newly landscaped some four years ago, we are ready to enlist volunteers interested in helping us maintain it as well as learn about its proper care. Also included during the year in a series of several meetings, will be information on the park’s budget, history and maintenance. Columbiana can now boast it has a fine recreational park as well as a park filled with gardens and historic sites and plantings. We, the committees, are very proud to have our own building and share and learn about the very special park given to us these many years ago by the Firestones. We hope many residents will join us as we take good care of our legacy.

We, the FPCultural and Custodial Committee as well as Restoration and Beautification Committee, have concerns about the following issues related to the park:

The timely repair of the Spring Garden which has been out all summer

What progress is being made?

The safety issue of e-bikes which are racing through the park using pedestrian walks as well as the roadways to navigate the park…..some ruling should be made about their proper place and use.

The Playground Project needs public support if is to reach its goals…. have you, your family, or organizations made a contribution? Please do!