Discover Greensboro Winter/Spring 2023

FEATURE STORY Facilities

Peeler Recreation Center

Peeler is Ready for Its Close-Up The accessible, paved walking path is in. The environmentally-friendly rainwater system is feeding the new baseball field. The new playground plus exercise center is ready for fun and fitness. A recreation center mural and interior refresh are in process. And before long, viewers from anywhere in the world will be able to catch the view from home plate as spring baseball leagues hit the field. Peeler Recreation Center and Community Park, fresh off a $1.2 million upgrade, is ready for its close-up. “I really just want to reenergize the center. I want it to be a place where all of the community feels safe and comfortable going to and they all have something to go there for," said Peeler’s new Center Director Karenga Arifu, who came to Greensboro from Brooklyn with more than 20 years in youth development, teaching, and community oriented programs.

The project, in the works since 2018, was funded by 2016 voter-approved bonds, a $30,000 Cone Mills Foundation donation for the playground, and a $600,000 grant from the National Park Service’s Outdoor Legacy Partnership Program, which guarantees the space will remain a park forever. “Based upon us getting that Outdoor Legacy Partnership Program grant we were able to do everything in the master plan,” said Shawna Tillery, Parks and Recreation’s planning and project development division manager. The recreation center got an improved parking lot, inviting entrance seating, bathroom improvements, and interior paint for program rooms and the gym. Creative Greensboro, the City’s office for arts and culture, is working with a group of community stakeholders to install a $10,000 mural on the outside wall of the recreation center, facing Phillips Avenue. The community group chose Greensboro artist James Raleigh Jr. – a NC A&T State University art and design graduate, art teacher, and owner of Victorious

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