Activity spaces being added to downtown Corbin

Downtown Corbin hosts numerous events, but officials are working to add more activity spaces to the area.

The pocket park project on Monroe Street between Main and Depot Street is moving forward, and beach volleyball courts will be set up in the lot at the corner of Gordon and Depot Street.

Local artist Beth Jones has begun working on the pocket park, applying the first coats of paint to the street with the goal of creating the red and white picnic blanket pattern.

The large concrete planters that sat on the sidewalks along Main Street have been relocated to block off that area of Monroe Street to traffic.

Picnic tables and porch swings will be spaced around the area.

Jones has also painted a hopscotch court on the sidewalk between the pocket park and Sanders Park.

“It will glow when it gets wet,” Jones said of the court.

Over on Gordon Street, in the coming days, workers will begin assembling the beach volleyball courts.

The Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, which organizes Corbin’s annual NIBROC Festival, has offered the equipment.

Corbin Mayor Suzie Razmus said the two courts will be set up in the grassy area.

“Netting will be put down between the grass and the sand,” Razmus explained. “If we dug up the grass and then put the courts down, we would have a muddy mess when it rains.”

Corbin Downtown Manager Aaron Sturgill said the park and volleyball courts are part of an effort to draw more people downtown in an informal way.

“We want to give this atmosphere of activity spaces that are available to the public anytime of the day,” Sturgill said.

The volleyball courts will remain in place on a semi-permanent basis.

“As long as it draws activity and people are using it, the courts will remain in place,” Sturgill said explaining that London has a beach volleyball court set up at Mill Street Park that remains in place throughout the year.

Sturgill said Corbin Downtown is working with Corbin Tourism in an effort to offer more activities downtown.

Corbin Tourism Director Maggy Kriebel said tourism is still working to finalize the paperwork needed to transfer the Economy Inn property on South Main Street to the city.

The property, which is being donated, will serve as the location for the proposed Corbin splash pad.

The donation of the property was announced in March.

Prior to that, plans called for locating the splash pad on property owned by the Corbin Tourism Commission located at the intersection of North Main and Monroe Street across from Sanders Park.

Plans for the project call for the 12,000-square feet project to incorporate several Corbin fixtures, including trains, and replica KFC chicken buckets for the water-dumping feature.

Model railroad crossing signs that spray water will also be included, along with a model steam engine.