By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
Sports park manager Grant Harper gave what would be his final official report to the Grayson tourism commission during their meeting last week.
“Things are going great at the park,” Harper told the commission. “We’ve had four tournaments already, which is about a month ahead of schedule for what we have traditionally done. And because of all the rain, we have hosted some random high school sports.”
“We had Boyd County and Rowan County Softball,” Harper said. “And we have East Carter and Elliot Baseball and Lewis and Bath Softball next week.”
Harper said due to the situation, and as a show of support for local teams, the sports park did not charge those teams to use the park.
“It’s good exposure with people coming from out of town, many of them seeing the park for the first time,” he said.
“The tournaments have had a great turnout up to this point,” Harper continued. “Our first two softball tournaments for the year were packed, and I get messages constantly about when are we having the next one. And there was a good turnout for baseball even with the rain issues. Some of the teams came a good distance from around Louisville and Lexington.”
He also told the commission that he would be stepping down from the position he’s held since before the sports park opened.
“I have received and accepted a job offer,” Harper told the commission. “The first thing I want to do is to thank the commission for being so easy to work for and with. The second thing I’ll say is that this is a career and a family decision. It’s what’s best for me and my family, but I don’t want to just walk off and never look back. I still want to be involved and help with the transition.”
Harper will be starting his new position at Grayson Rural Electric on April 28.
“But I’m still here, and you know where to find me,” Harper said. “And I’ll help out any way I can.”
Grayson Tourism Director Lana Axtell reminded the tourism commission that the annual Easter Egg Hunt would be going on Saturday, April 19 at Prichard Elementary in Grayson and reported on the Spring Market which had been held the week previous. The inflatables were cancelled due to inclement weather, Axtell said, and that money was not spent on the event.
“It went pretty well,” Axtell said. “We had 53 kids show up for pictures with the Easter Bunny.” The event generated a lot of interest in the community, and local businesses donated over $150 toward the purchase of Easter eggs for the upcoming hunt. Axtell said that she is still taking donations for eggs if any individual or business would like to contact her and contribute to the popular event.
Axtell also told the commission that she had been in communication with local hotels who had indicated that they would like to be more involved with the community.
“They are interested in doing things like open houses, and taking all of us (the tourism commission) on a tour of their facilities to show their updates and that they are making things better,” she said.
Some of the things the hotels Axtell spoke with are interested in doing are things like offering discounts or free hotdogs to members of the traveling sports teams that frequent the Grayson Sports Park.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
