HomeMy WebLinkAboutVINCENT - BRISON PARK SUPPORT LETTER
314 Pershing Avenue
College Station, TX 77840
September 21, 2024
Dear Texas Recreation & Parks Society,
My name is Liana Vincent and I currently serve as the head organizer of the Southside Historic Neighborhood (SHN).
Brison Park! I was first introduced to this beauty of a park in 2020, in the middle of the COVID pandemic. My husband and I would walk daily through this historic neighborhood of unique
more than 100-year old homes with some moved from the campus of TAMU. As I looked at the homes and the nature surrounding the area, I began to take pictures of each of the homes, and
the trees and birds in Brison Park. I had an appreciation of the variety of architecture and plant species offered to passers-by.
I started to notice the lampposts for the fallen Aggies in Brison Park. You see, I had just lost a son and these light posts with the plaques that named the students really resonated
with me. They had honored their precious children. Their lives had changed forever. I would walk the park thinking about these families and what they must have experienced. Brison Park
became a refuge for me in my grief. But, I would look at the light posts and remember to be a light in the world. The memorial was an inspiration for me.
My across-the-street neighbor came over to my house one day as we “distanced” and talked about the history of the neighborhood. She shared a booklet that she had helped compile through
the City of College Station Historic Preservation Committee. I got an idea to put my pictures and the stories of these homes and the park on an Instagram page and to start taking people
on walking tours using that book (of course, walking through Brison Park). She introduced the idea that this place had many stories: stories of the residents and the place dating back
100+ years, Brison Park being central to those individuals.
Brison Park became a meeting place during Covid. I met new neighbor families in the park after Zoom calls. Kids and dogs could run around as the adults discussed ideas. I noticed in
our first year in SHN that this became a magnet for the student community during the pandemic. Bible study groups could be seen sitting in pods all throughout the park in little circles
of young men and little circles of young women. On other nights, college students gathered groups to play Spikeball or kickball.
Soon, I was invited to help with the Fall Gathering in October in Brison Park. Several residents planned and 350 invitations were walked door to door, inviting 90-year olds, 50-year
olds, 20-year olds. This planning group met neighbors and invited fellow residents to the park. I thought, this is a special community! So inviting and so social! The park is the hub
for the multi-generational community. With this same group, we began to reignite people after the pandemic and more neighbors became involved. We created a new event called Spring Event,
where we could focus on conservation efforts. Then, a Garden Group emerged and efforts to beautify with partnerships throughout the City are continuing and being integrated into their
plans.
One example is Brison Park being central to the BirdCity Texas application: creating and maintaining a demonstration bird-friendly native landscape on at least one highly visible community
property; hosting three community volunteer planting events per year featuring native plants on public properties, community centers, libraries, or other sites where the plantings would
be labeled and visible to the public; and engaging
the public park system and/or local museums to offer environmental education opportunities for the public that support the objectives of the Bird City program (BirdCity objectives).
Multiple residents are involved in the College Station Conservation Advisory Group that meets monthly to plan Parks and Recreation events and residents have brought Brison Park to the
forefront of the City’s planning. The Garden Group received a grant to plant native plants and trees from the City of College Station.
Brison Park has been our HUB for community, events, and even healing in the past five years. There is an older generation above me and we are surrounded by college students, each having
their own stories that include this park. Almost weekly, I hear from Aggie students of their experiences in this park.
I hope your organization will consider Brison Park very seriously to be a Lone Star Legacy Park as it is the oldest park in College Station across the street from Kyle Field at Texas
A&M, in the oldest neighborhood in College Station. This park is iconic and has endured the test of time: from being dammed up in the 1920s to now, a nature preserve and fly-away for
100+ species of birds and the nurturer and lover of college students and up. A friend that you kind of take for granted that is there for you in the good times and the hard times. Let’s
honor this giving friend.
Sincerely,
Liana Vincent