Townsend Parks and Rec works for the future

Townsend City Commissioner Kelsey Satterfield wants to see another park on the peaceful side of the Smokies. The city, she said, has parks geared toward the community and all ages, but nothing with playground equipment for younger audiences.

“We have kids here, but you don’t see them because when they’re out of school for the summer there’s not a lot of opportunities for them to do something locally,” she said in a phone interview. “Unless they go tubing or to one of the local museums.”

Satterfield has worked to invigorate the city’s parks and recreation department since her election in 2022. After being nominated as the city’s parks and recreation commissioner, she found herself researching similar boards in other cities and even looking up videos of board meetings in different municipalities.

Now, she feels momentum is beginning to build. Townsend has a parks and recreation board that meets on the second Tuesday of the month, and that board has a list of goals they’d like to achieve for the community.

NeedsAdding a park with playground equipment, she said, is a long-term goal. The city will need funds, materials and land on which to build, and before that, it must look to its other parks. An ADA installation the city recently inherited needs repairs, and Satterfield also has her sights set on upgrading Townsend’s other park — the Jean Headrick Moser Memorial Park. A barn at that location currently serving as city storage could function as a community resource, she said.

“We’d like to turn it into a place for people to have birthday parties and community gatherings and community events,” she said. “There’s a lot of potential with that barn, and I don’t want it to sit there and let it go to waste.”

But quotes for a new roof, floor, doors, electric lights and a kitchen will take money — something Satterfield said will always be a struggle for an area like Townsend.

“Money is always an issue just because Townsend is so small and our funding is based on less than 600 people when it comes to sales tax, which is the biggest source of revenue for the town,” she said. “Since there was never a parks and rec board in place until now, our budget was super low.”

The board applied for its first external source of funds — an AARP grant — in March. They weren’t selected, but Satterfield said she values the experience. Grants are going to be an essential part of the job, she said, especially when it comes to the bigger projects the board is eyeing on the horizon, such as a child-focused park with a playground.

Futures

Once the city finishes its Community Plan, she said, the Parks and Recreation Board will be able to apply for additional funding through the state government.

In the meantime, Satterfield and her team are also working on community events for Townsend’s residents. A successful bingo night hosted at city hall brought in 51 people, generating instant plans for a sequel. Other events in the works include possible movie nights and a Christmas gathering.

“To be only a year old, I’m really proud of the board and what we’ve accomplished,” Satterfield said, adding later, “I want us to be a community that looks out for each other, where we have a good time and we help each other out.”