Group organizes to lend support to Wall Doxey park

People who love Wall Doxey State Park gathered recently to form a new support group.

Friends of Wall Doxey will serve the park like Friends of the Library and the Parent Teacher Organiza tion do for the county library and the schools, respectively, going beyond the funding that comes from state and federal sources.

Wall Doxey State Park, named after late U.S. Senator Wall Doxey of Holly Springs, was built with CCC labor – a work relief program operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States following the Great Depression under the Franklin D. Roosevelt New Deal Program.

Local friends of the park gathered to reminisce about the good old days of swimming and boating and camping at the park with their children, families and friends. Now the park is also equipped for disc golf, geocaching and hiking.

Casey and Tamara Hillmer helped pull the organization back together with the help of Brad Rogers with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

“We got married out here,” Tamara Hillmer said. “We spent weekends and had Easter Egg hunts and Halloween out here. This is where it all began. We want to get it back up to what we all know.”

Friends can donate to the Friends of Wall Doxey for improvements and donate labor and skills to supplement what the park staff are able to do.

Volunteers can decide how they want to participate, whether to trim trails, celebrate certain holidays such as Earth Day, or advocate for things.

Tishomingo State Park is ranked number one for Friends of parks in Mississippi.

The facilities at Wall Doxey are adequate for educational classes in boating, astronomy, birds and wildlife such as at Strawberry Plains Audubon Center.

Some activities Friends groups often provide include:

• replacing trail markers

• working on disc golf trails and promoting disc golf tourneys

• building bat houses. People like to come out and watch the bats come out at dusk and catch mosquitoes.

• planting native wild flowers

• restoring the fishing docks and restrooms

• freshening the sign at the park entrance

• improving the boat ramps and docks

• bringing back the paddle boats

• installing a spotlight on the flagpole at the entrance

• starting a 5K run

• coordinating activities with the Holly Springs Pilgrimage

• celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Wall Doxey State Park

• educating for canoe and kayak boating

• preparing for Halloween camping decorations for a contest and a haunted house and fund-raiser.

Linda Seale expressed fondness for the park and memories of taking her children to Wall Doxey. As an adult she still likes to visit the park with friends.

Brad Rogers, special project coordinator with Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, said all the state parks are being encouraged and helped to start Friends support groups.

Boating classes would help educate, and the park is a natural space for a 5K run, he said.

The last couple of years, the Halloween festivities have been cut from two nights to one. Back in the day, Wall Doxey was packed both nights and it was the one time a year the park was mostly sold out.

Friends decide where they fit in. It can be planning, fundraising, labor, financial donations, serving on the board, or providing unique skills.

Fund-raising can include concessions, selling T-shirts, helping with Easter activities such as egg rolls, egg toss and egg-eating contests.

To reintroduce swimming, the swimming area has to be staffed with lifeguards. It is the one activitiy that is still wanted at a state park, Rogers said. There was a $3 million cut in the general fund last year and the bond bill was not funded. That meant that funding for state parks was less than adequate.

Parks like Wall Doxey, built with CCC labor, are on the historic register, so the price to repair and restore is more costly because facilities have to be built back just like the original.

Wall Doxey State Park is uniquely located between Oxford and Holly Springs so traffic is good for the park. A lot of businesses will buy in to the restoration and improvement at the park, Rogers said.

“It’s important for the park to do well,” he said. “Local people will help by pushing and promoting it.

Roosevelt State Park, one of the largest, was adopted by New Corp Steel, Rogers said. The sponsor replaced 14 major bridges and worked on the trails.

National Parks Kids Day is celebrated in May and the National Association of Physicians is promoting children getting outdoors. The state will provide coloring books and crayons to pass out to children.

Rogers said funds for parks are limited. A park lake near Tupelo had to be drained to replace the dam. The price tag to rebuild the dam came in at $2 million. The park service also asked for $44.7 million for unspecified improvements that would provide between $300,000 and $500,000 per park.

There are 25 state parks, three run by counties.

There are eight big parks such as the Paul B. Johnson and Roosevelt, which are two or three times bigger than Wall Doxey. There are seven or eight CCC-built parks.

Tamara Hillmer said schools want children to spend less screen time and more time out in nature and strengthening their bodies.

Rogers said the park is one of the prettiest places for events such as weddings, club meeting, church events, and retreats.

Steven Ashley, with disc golf tournaments, said the activity is popular and not expensive to get into. The walking provides excellent exercise for fitness. It is a sport for all ages. A tourney can be used for charity or to sponsor a cause. It could be used to promote the 80th birthday of Wall Doxey State Park.

Friends of Wall Doxey State Park meets the second Saturday each month at 11 a.m. at the park.

Upcoming events include the Easter festivities to be held Sunday, April 1.

Join Friends to make friends and to support improvements at the park. The membership fee makes a person eligible for an entrance permit for a year at Wall Doxey.

For more information call Casey Hillmer at 662-544-2707, or visit Facebook at Friends of Wall Doxey.