Board renames neighborhood park for late Micaela Cancilla

The undeveloped, open area behind Mama Nunz restaurant in Greencastle's South End, previously considered as the eastern section of Maple Berry Park, has been designated Micaela Juletta Cancilla Park in action by the Greencastle Park Board.

A portion of Greencastle's first neighborhood park will now be named in honor of one of its most beloved young local residents.

In recent action, the Greencastle Board of Park Commissioners voted unanimously to name the undeveloped eastern section of Maple Berry Park in honor of the late Micaela Julletta Cancilla, who died Oct. 5, 2012 at age 26.

Micaela, the daughter of Nunzio Cancilla and the granddaughter of Jo Ruth Cancilla (Mama Nunz herself), worked enthusiastically alongside her family at the restaurant and immensely enjoyed interacting with the customers.

The back door of Mama Nunz at 800 S. Main St. overlooks the open area destined to become a park and now to be named for the young woman who enjoyed it even in its undeveloped state.

"She knew everybody who came and went," Jo Ruth Cancilla told the Park Board at its June meeting. "She spent a lot of time at the restaurant."

Mama Nunz had presented the Park Board with a petition accompanied by 16 pages of signatures at its May meeting.

"This is the first time anybody has petitioned us like this," board member Tim Trigg said, noting it was different from the Civic League awarding naming rights to the Splash Park. "This one is on us."

Saying he thought it was a good idea, Trigg made the motion to rename the eastern section of the park in Cancilla's honor. Board members Beva Miller and John Hennette added affirmative votes as the measure passed unanimously.

The section of park being renamed is where the old city garage used to sit. It was originally scheduled for development similar to the west end of Maple Berry about eight years ago but a site survey indicated the presence of soil contaminated by oil and gasoline and the funds were transferred to improve the west end of the park bounded by Maple and Berry streets.

However, Park Director Rod Weinschenk said a new plan to improve the eastern portion "is being designed as we speak."

The site development would likely include curbs and gutters, greenspace, benches and more.

Signage, Weinschenk suggested, would be left up to the board.

Trigg suggested, "it would be fantastic" if the Cancillas organize a fundraiser to help pay for signage since no money for that purpose is currently in the Park Department budget.

Ex-officio board member Wes Wilson asked if there is any policy for naming park facilities, which all agreed does not seem to exist.

"Wouldn't it be better to have a policy that's uniform for future cases?" he asked.

Weinschenk, meanwhile, recalled how Maple Berry Park got its name in the first place.

"The city engineer at the time just needed a name to put across the top of the (architect's) drawings," he said, adding that it led to use of the intersecting streets of Maple and Berry for lack of anything more inspiring at the time. But, of course, that has stuck.

Maple Berry Park was created from parcels of land the city acquired from the Ferrand family as well as the site of the old Street Department garage to emerge as a long-sought-after neighborhood park designed to help keep children from playing in the street.