MAXCY GREGG PARK

Depicting a new dawn- survival, and a passage into life.

Coming out from the frame of an exit way, they step forward into a luminous future. The bronzed figures of a man and woman are holding a child by the arms, striding joyously, as the child gaily skips along between them, keeping up with their pace. It is a representation of hope and healing. Renewal. Behind the open door-frame, not too far behind, others ,
from the youthful to the elderly, eagerly await their turn to pass through. The shade of the surrounding trees overshadow their forms, as though associating them with the dark of doom attached to a disease such as cancer. On their side of the door frame, there is hardly a sense of expectation. Yet, the figures all face the exit, walking on, willing to see what lies ahead for them if they do not give up. Some, slightly stooped, cannot actually see ahead beyond the doorway where the couple and child, further along the journey, have already made it, together.

Maxcy Gregg Park at the intersection of Blossom and Pickens Street was founded in part by Richard and Annette Bloch, Richard being a cancer survivor who wished to celebrate his victory over the illness. The park and its images at the entrance, described above, would transmit to all, a positive message of hope for recovery from the dread disease. Further in from the entrance, park benches and a white trellis under shady trees present an inviting setting for any who would take a rest from their stroll through the well maintained gardens. On the ground there is a wide labyrinth in concrete and your footsteps follow the pattern that mirrors the walk through life's twists and turns, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the way, but knowing there is a way out.

Perhaps the derelicts and addicts are the ones who stop most often to enjoy this park placed along a busy roadside, but even they share the human experience of troubled times and the hope they can find offered by others who have already been there.