IRMO, SC (WIS) -
A major park project in Irmo could receive crucial approval on Tuesday evening, and if approved, it could go a long way toward securing the future of the town's annual Okra Strut Festival.
The festival is almost 40 years old.
Recently, organizers have battled financial problems and questions about where to have the festival. Two years ago, it was even canceled, then reinstated.
The Irmo Town Park will be home to the town's famous Okra Strut festival this year, but the stay might only be temporary. On Tuesday night, the town council will take action that might lead to a permanent place for the Okra Strut as well as lot of other activities.
The small park next to the Irmo Police Department is the latest stop for a gathering that's been shifted several times. Fourteen acres of wooded property off Eastview Drive could be where the Strut ends ups a year from now. It's a couple of blocks from Lake Murray Boulevard.
The town has already bought the land, had parts of it cleared out, and begun work on the design for a new park that would be better suited to the festival and much more.
"It's not going to be a single-use park. I mean we're going to use the park 365 days a year. People are trying to equate it as being the Okra Strut park only but it's not," said Barry Walker with Irmo Town Council.
Current plans call for walking trails, picnic facilities, a playground, restrooms and an amphitheater that could seat 500. The total cost could be between $1 and $2 million.
The town has promised people who live nearby they'll be protected by a buffer zone.
Mayor Hardy King says the exact size of that buffer has yet to be finalized.
"We're going to look at a plan tonight that has a minimum 50-foot buffer and in some places maybe 80-foot is the nearest whatever to the people's homes," said King.
Supporters say having the park will provide better planning for the festival and allow it to expand. While the project appears to be on track, King is skeptical about the need for both the park and building it in an effort to shore up the financially troubled festival.
"Providing a home for a bleeding patient isn't the cure," said King. "You've got to fix the hole. You've got to fix the, you know. And to me that's what the Okra Strut is. A bleeding patient that comes into an emergency room with a gunshot wound and we're going to provide a bed for it. But we're not fixing it."
Park construction can begin early next year and be done in time to be Strut-ready in fall 2013.
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