Camping questions at issue for Greencastle Park Board

Jaycee Park

While no camping will be allowed at Big Walnut Sports Park during the April solar eclipse, camping remains a possibility for Jaycee Park during a June slingshot tournament event at Big Walnut.

That’s the consideration in front of the Greencastle Park Board as it ponders the effects of those future events on its facilities.

The board has already agreed to partner with the Putnam County Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB) for use of Big Walnut as the county’s designated observation venue to view the April 8 eclipse that will occur at 3:05 p.m. and be a three-minute event in the western sky.

“The three T’s” -- toilets, trash and traffic -- will be vital, CVB Executive Director Eric Freeman noted in a synopsis of responsibilities for the once-in-a-lifetime event.

Park Director Greg Ruark and Greencastle Police Chief Chris Jones are charged with coordinating traffic into the East Side park property.

Assistant Park Director Chrysta Snellenberger, noting that the main entrance to Big Walnut, via Capital Drive, runs right past the entry into Chiyoda USA and adjacent to Crown Equipment, suggested closing that entrance to the park and funneling traffic to the east entrance off Edgewood Lake Road. It is unknown at this point whether local industries will adjust their schedules on April 8 to keep their workers from being caught in expected traffic coming or going in the midst of the eclipse crush.

“How many cars can we hold out there?” Mayor Lynda Dunbar asked of Big Walnut.

In terms of pavement parking, the number is 125, Ruark said (he later informed the Banner Graphic that he misspoke and the number is closer to 500). However, if the weather is good, vehicles could also be parked on the grass at the southeast corner of the park, he said. Cars and spectators will be staying off the athletic fields, Ruark added.

Meanwhile, Ruark also noted that the Visitors Bureau will provide six or more port-o-lets and a number of portable trash bins at Big Walnut as well as passing out 500 eclipse glasses to spectators as they arrive. The CVB also will promote the Big Walnut location on an eclipse page on its GoPutnam website.

“You can do all the planning in the world,” Ruark reasoned, “and if it rains (or is cloudy or foggy), it can be all for naught.”

Reiterating that no camping will be allowed at the facility, Park Board President Cathy Merrell said “hopefully the community and businesses in town will profit” from the event since it will be over shortly after 3 p.m. and visitors may stay in town and eat dinner at local restaurants.

Across Indiana, the 120-mile-wide path of totality – the area within which observers will see the moon totally obscure the sun for several minutes – includes cities such as Indianapolis, Bloomington, Muncie, Terre Haute, Evansville and many others. Greencastle is north of the center line in the path of totality but is still expected to attract an influx of visitors from out of the area.

Meanwhile, the Park Board is also considering hosting a June 29-30 national slingshot tournament at Big Walnut with competitors likely arriving June 28 (when originally discussed the tournament was planned for the fall).

While Big Walnut Sports Park is being considered as the event site with 100 competitors possible and a crowd size estimated at 300, organizers are requesting use of Jaycee Park for camping for at least half the competitors. Overnight stays -- mostly in campers but some in tents -- are expected Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, June 28-30.

During discussion at the December meeting, the question of liability was raised. That remains an unresolved concern.

Assistant Director Snellenberger worries that campers routinely make fires for cooking and creating warmth and fears that people are “liable to start fires at their sites, and we don’t want a bunch of burned spots.”

Nonetheless, the Park Board remains open to the idea.

“It might be a good opportunity to see what Jaycee Park is capable of,” Merrell suggested.

The Park Board urged that organizer Will Bartlett, a local resident, be invited to the board’s Feb. 7 meeting for further discussion and information.

“I will indicate we have not shut the door on camping at Jaycee Park,” Ruark said in promising to contact Bartlett.

He also advised that the CVB’s Freeman told him, “If you don’t want to host, they have other alternatives.”

If the event is approved by the Park Board, the Visitors Bureau has agreed to staff an information/hospitality tent and arrange for volunteers to facilitate the competition, as well as providing event-branded swag. As with the eclipse event, it will also provide port-o-lets and portable trash bins for both the competition and camping areas and have them delivered and retrieved.

The CVB also plans to host a Sunday evening gathering for competitors and guests at the camping area.

Slingshot competitors shoot steel ball bearings (about 2.5 times the size of a pea). Projectiles will biodegrade in approximately six months if not collected. Most of the projectiles, however, are collected and reused. Organizers utilize magnets and catch boxes at target locations.

No action was taken on the slingshot tourney event.

Board President Merrell was joined for the January session by fellow board members Tim Trigg, Doug Hutchison and Scott Hamilton.

The Park Board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7 at the park office in Robe-Ann Park.