The push to bring an aquatic center to Henry County will get a musical boost this weekend.
The Kensley Grace Fall Music Festival is coming to Hampton Saturday from 4-10 p.m., on Cherry Street across from Jailhouse Brewery. Scheduled performers include The All-Stars featuring Brian Cameron, Jason Fowler, Andy Bray and Hal Mahan, as well as Dr. Smith, Free Kicks and Abel & Rawls.
Tickets are $25 each and are available online at kensleygrace.com or at the gate on the day of the event.
The festival is a fundraiser for the Kensley Grace Foundation, which is raising funds to build an aquatic center in Henry County. Neil Daniell, vice president of the foundation, said the group is in “capital fundraising mode,” with plans to complete the center in the near future.
“We would hope that by 2020, we will be up and running,” he said. “We are looking to get the biggest beneficiaries of the aquatic center to be involved. Those are the Henry County Schools, the Board of Commissioners and obviously our cities.
“The school system has 11 girl swim teams, and no place to swim,” continued Daniell. “They’re actually going out of county to swim, the majority of them. Strong Rock [Christian School] also has a swim team and no place to swim.”
The foundation organizes fundraisers throughout the year in its quest to bring the Kensley Grace Aquatic Center to fruition. When completed, said Daniell, the center will feature an Olympic-size swimming pool, a therapy pool and a “lazy river” for the community to enjoy.
“The cost to fill one pool would be about $96,000, based on our estimates,” said Daniell. “Then, backwashing would also be substantial.”
Daniell reiterated previous statements indicating that the center represents more than recreation, and that it has the potential to be a significant contributor to the local economy.
“It is not just a swimming pool,” he said. “There are no parks in Henry County or the cities that are actually bringing in revenue. The other thing is, the water that we buy to run the aquatic center, we pay that back to the county.”
The aquatic center is named for Kensley Kirby, a five-year-old girl – and avid swimmer – who was injured in a bicycle in 2011. She was taken to a hospital and later died from a lethal dose of a local anesthesia.
Daniell added that the aquatic center, upon completion, will house swimming competitions and other events. Those events, he said, will contribute property taxes, hotel/motel taxes, meeting-room fees and other funds to the local economy. He said the foundation is working to get its message out to local residents to generate support for the center.
“One thing that most people don’t realize is that we are sending our SPLOST and E-SPLOST dollars out of the county to Rockdale, Clayton and Fulton counties,” said Daniell. “So instead of sending them out of county, we are bringing them back. At an average swim team meet, you can have 800-1,200 kids. Most of them will have parents and siblings with them. So, you’re looking at a lot of people coming in. So the county and cities are going to benefit.”
For example, the center would enable young people and public-safety workers to learn scuba diving, while serving as a venue for outdoorsmen to teach kayaking or fly-fishing. Daniell said the center will also help kids learn how to swim, with an emphasis on water safety.
“Drowning is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States among children ages 1-4,” said Daniell. “Our seniors currently don’t even have a place to do water aerobics. We don’t have a place for our veterans to get water therapy. We are sending people out of county left and right for all these different functions. This benefits the whole county, and it’s an economic engine. By year three, it should have about a $5 million economic impact. By year seven, it should have a $10 million economic impact. This is a big deal, and we really need people to get out and contact their SPLOST boards, and commissioners, and let them know we need this to happen. I think we can do it if we band together in the community.” For more information on the festival or the aquatic center, visit kensleygrace.com.
