Fountains add pleasant sights and sounds to Barnett Park

If you haven't visited Barnett Park this week, you're in for a treat.

The park has always been a beautiful place, with ponds, picnic shelters, the soccer field and playground equipment making it an inviting place to spend a few hours on a pleasant afternoon.

(It's too bad that the erstwhile riverside walking trail has been chainsawed into oblivion by the owners, and too bad some sort of agreement couldn't have been reached with the city to keep it open. The question of whether the footbridge lost in the process was on city or private land has yet to be addressed.)

But the first thing visitors will notice is the spectacular fountains, spraying high into the air from each of the ponds. Purchased with $32,000 in city tax money -- half of it from sales tax receipts, the rest from general funds -- the fountains are designed to aerate the ponds to make them a healthier natural habitat, as well as provide pleasant sights and sounds for park users.

They should provide better homes for a stocking of trout which was scheduled to take place at one of the ponds this week, which in turn should provide plenty of excitement for young fishermen in the coming weeks.

If you aren't able to visit the park for a while, check out a video on the Gazette's YouTube link on http://mccookgazette.com