James Weldon Johnson Park to get a new look for the first time since 1977

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The future of James Weldon Johnson Park in downtown Jacksonville is bright.

The park is in the process of being redesigned for the first time since 1977. On Wednesday, the community got a chance to take a peep at renderings and designs for the park’s future during Art Walk.

These designs are the result of several community meetings over the past year.

Michael DeGregorio is the principal at Hood Design Studio, which created the designs and renderings for the park. He said the design splits the park into nine squares.

“You can get a lot done in one park by having all these different activities, so anywhere from just gardens to sit and relax in the grand lawn to sunbathe, watch a concert or a show. There’s a lot of groves of trees where you can just sit and have lunch, play a game,” DeGregorio said.

Tina Prater has lived in Jacksonville since 2011 and visits the park frequently. She likes the direction the park is headed.

“They have a children’s garden, which is very awesome for the children. Because the spot that they have now isn’t that very big. And then you have like, places where you can sit down and picnic with your family if you want to sit down and do picnics,” Prater said.

Liz McCoy, the executive director for Friends of James Weldon Johnson Park, says the design will honor the history of Jacksonville while looking toward the future.

“So there’s going to be a wonderful water feature that actually has some stones, and there’ll be a poet walk through because of course, James Weldon Johnson was an amazing poet. He was also an author, and civil rights leader [and] a lawyer. He had so many things that he accomplished in his life,” she said.

The park was originally named City Park before it changed to James Weldon Johnson Park in 2020.

“It’s the heart of downtown, so it’ll speak to all that within the upcoming design work,” she said.

McCoy said they’ll continue to get feedback to help refine the design, but ultimately the final decision is up to the city.

“We manage the park on the day-to-day, but the city is really the driving factor in this decision-making process. So there’ll be lots of city discussions on really refining the process. And hopefully, we’ll get it all approved and start construction sometime in the near future,” McCoy said.