Thursday, November 20, 2025–10:20 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held on Friday morning to celebrate the completion of renovations at Banty Jones Park.
The project was funded, in part, with Choice Neighborhood Planning Grant funds through the Northwest Georgia Housing Authority.
“We had gotten a grant to write a redevelopment plan for that area,” Rome Community Development Director Bekki Fox told WRGA’s Doug Walker earlier this year. “One of the things that kept coming up over and over in that plan was that the park was not only a challenge, but an opportunity. The park had not had a great reputation for years, and people felt like it was not safe, but we also felt like it was so central to the neighborhood, and central to the new housing as well as the historic housing. So, we felt like this would be the one thing that we could give back, and do in the neighborhood that would really make a difference, and to kick off redevelopment.”
Several years of Community Development Block Grant funds, and local and state America Rescue Plan money were also used to fund the project.
“It really took a huge combination of funds,” Fox said. “It took just over $5 million to really make this happen. But it is going to be a true showpiece park in the City of Rome. I think it’s going to be a destination, not just for the resident, but I think it will be utilized by a lot of people.”
Many consider the park’s main attraction to be a splash pad.
Other amenities include a small amphitheatre, state-of-the-art playgrounds, pavilions, new signage, a boardwalk area, new restrooms, and a place for food trucks.