Linda Parish is leading the effort to revitalize the Lexington Community Center — and now there’s a committee to help her.
“We’re going to take this one bite at a time, unless somebody is going to drop a huge pile of money in our hands,” said Ronnie Boggs, head of the Downtown Development Authority.
The DDA met Feb. 11 at the Town and Country Kafe in Crawford, where the group formed a committee of volunteers to work on community center ideas and parameters.
Funding remains a major hurdle, forcing the DDA to rely on donations and federal and state grants.
Parish, tourism and hospitality director for the county Chamber of Commerce, leads the grant-writing efforts, currently seeking funding for transportation enhancements and streetscape improvements, including new lamp posts and sidewalks in front of the Lexington Community Center.
Parish sells T-shirts and key rings at Local Color, her store in Lexington, to support fundraising efforts.
She’s been the primary coordinator for the DDA’s community center project in place of ex-husband Myles Jerome “Jerry” Titus, who died June 19, 2022.
“It’s a responsibility to carry on his legacy to the city,” Parish said. “He was a good soul, and he loved this town. We made it our home many years ago, and I just like to give back.”
Titus purchased the community center building in 2020 and gave it to the DDA in hopes of saving the property, she said. The property had been left empty after the previous owner had removed several pieces of the building and left it abandoned.
Boggs hopes to rename the building the “Jerry Titus Community Center.”
The vision for the community center and the DDA’s master plan revolves around the area’s neat little town feel, with its 19th-century buildings frozen in time, according to Boggs.
Parish plans to integrate “photographs and paintings of historic things in the county” in one of their smaller rooms to contribute to the DDA’s concept.
“The small room could be done up to tell a story; that is my vision,” Parish said.
The community center will have rooms to rent out, a catering kitchen, an office for the DDA and a large main room with space for events, such as weddings, concerts, art shows and auctions.
The community center building sits on a 3-acre property, along with the steps to the former Meson Academy gym building, which burned down in 1974. Parish hopes to transform the steps into a stage platform for live performances.
While the vision is clear, the path forward requires sustained effort and community involvement according to Boggs.
“It’s hard to get progress done when only a few people feel like they can invest their time to make it happen, but we are committed to make it happen,” Boggs said.