Brooksville Common dedicated on national prayer day
BROOKSVILLE – The recently-completed Brooksville Common filled up on Thursday morning with community leaders, religious leaders, school children and other well-wishers, who came out to celebrate the dedication, which coincided with National Day of Prayer.
Dr. Gary Wilson, a member of the Brooksville Common’s development committee, speaks during the dedication on Thursday morning. WENDY JOAN BIDDLECOMBE/STAFF
The outdoor space, nestled on Broad Street between Patricia’s Boutique and the First United Methodist Church of Brooksville, is a project multiple years in the making, and envisioned as a space where locals and visitors can gather to socialize, pray and pass the time.
Local pastors offered numerous prayers and hopes for the space during the dedication. The Hernando High School band played the Star-Spangled Banner and both the American and Christian flags were raised above the pavilion.
“It seems to me that so many needs of our community cannot be completely met by local government, no matter how well-intentioned they are, or how hard they try at it … We believe that most of our pressing problems and needs could be more adequately met and more community problems solved if local governments and faith-based groups come together to find faith-based solutions,” said Dr. Gary Wilson, a retired physician and part of the Brooksville Common’s development committee.
“So our goal … wasn’t just to make a pretty place, or a park. What we hoped to do was really provide the community with a launching pad of sorts, so our community and its’ leaders, our churches and ministers, our organizations and charities, even our teens and youth, could interact and network together and learn to share and care for each other while serving others. Our objective has always been to promote a spirit of cooperation,” Wilson said.
A pavilion is available for weddings, block parties and other functions, free of charge, and Wilson described the common space as the church’s gift to the community.
The $240,000 community redevelopment project has been funded by the purchase of memorial pavers and a $10,000 redevelopment grant from the City of Brooksville.
Wilson said all of the pavers should be installed within the next two weeks.
Other features of the new space include trees and benches lining the perimeter. There are also two sculptures: a 10-foot high by 10-foot wide Tree of Life by local sculptor James Oleson, and the Ten Commandments, carved from weathered rock, by Rev. Gene Hering.
The space also offers prime viewing of Antonio Caparello’s Brooksville Raid mural.
The Brooksville Common held a groundbreaking ceremony last August.
Wilson previously told Hernando Today the site was chosen, in part, because it was historically “church central,” housing a Presbyterian church in the early 20th century. A Baptist church was once across the street, and the First United Methodist remains next door.
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