Nashville Town Council tackles sports, entertainment projects

Sports and entertainment in and around the town of Nashville got a bit of a boost last week from elected leaders.

The Nashville Town Council recently approved expenditures for sound systems and scoreboards for the Glover Park ball fields and booked a band to play for the opening day of the Nashville Farmers Market in April.

Nash County and the town of Nashville have an interlocal agreement for athletics programs, park maintenance management and the supervision of Glover Park until June 30.

Thomas Gillespie, Nash County’s parks and recreation director, said that as part of the agreement, the town has allocated $20,000 annually for park improvements at Glover Park for three years.

“To accommodate larger projects, the agreement allows for expenditures to exceed the allotted budget, with subsequent fiscal year allocations adjusted accordingly,” Gillespie explained at last week’s council meeting.

County officials have asked for a sound system and scoreboard enhancements in the amount of $16,533, which was the balance remaining from Nashville’s annual allocation after reimbursing the county for expenses incurred earlier.

Josh Daniels, programming director for Nash County Parks and Recreation, also spoke about the planned improvement to the town’s sports complex.

Regarding the assets already available at Glover Park, Daniels said the park’s centrally located tower makes for an ideal location to operate the sound system for use at the four baseball and softball fields. The projected cost of the sound system, which includes four all-weather speakers, two 2,500-watt amplifiers and four audio consoles is $10,661.

The system can provide announcements and music to all four ball fields at the park.

The scoreboard option chosen included a sponsorship from Edwards Inc., a Spring Hope-based industrial contractor, that would bring the $7,518 scoreboard in line with the balance remaining after purchasing and installing the sound system, Daniel said, noting that the scoreboard would be placed on the “Championship Field.”

The council also heard plans for April 11, the opening day of the Nashville Farmers Market, which includes having a free concert.

Nashville’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Director Koy Worrell made the case for the band Scythian to perform at the concert. The total expense to book the band is projected to be $15,500.

“Scythian is a high-energy, family-friendly band that has created its own unique genre of folk-rock, combining elements of Celtic, bluegrass and Americana music,” Worrell told the council, adding that much of the expense has been defrayed by an $10,000 Nash County Tourism Development Authority Grant and that there are adequate funds in the Farmers Market budget to cover the balance.

Worrell said the independent band has played more than 1,300 shows in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia.