Bayhead Ponds Park’s grand opening Feb. 28 highlights partnership between the city of Largo and a local 4H club.
Photo by JULIANA A. TORRES
Several children at the Feb. 28 opening of Bayheads Pond Park try fishing from the pond with supplies provided by the Florida Gulf Coast Center for Fishing Foundation.
Photo by JULIANA A. TORRES
Eugene Weaver, 13, watches as his younger brother Nicholas Weaver, 8, free a small bluegill fish, one of 230 released in celebration of the renovated Bayhead Ponds Park Feb. 28.
Photo by JULIANA A. TORRES
Conner Slaven, left, and Sergio Corona, both 12, watch as a bluegill fish swims into the Bayhead pond Feb. 28.
Photo by JULIANA A. TORRES
From left, Largo City Manager Mac Craig, Parks Superintendent Greg Brown, Mayor Pat Gerard, Commissioners Jamie Robinson and Harriet Crozier, and Parks and Recreation, Parks and Arts Director Joan Byrne cut the ribbon to celebrate the grand opening of renovated Bayhead Ponds Park. Behind them are several members of the 4H Club at Largo Middle School.
LARGO – Bayhead Ponds Park turned out nicer than Largo Middle School student Dylan Boniface said he first imagined it would.
Boniface and his fellow classmates were thanked for their part in the renovation of the park, as the city of Largo celebrated its grand opening Feb. 28.
It was Dylan’s idea to involve his 4H club, which cleaned it up from kayaks in November.
“They went out and picked up thousands and thousands of bottles and pieces of trash out of the actual lake. It’s a whole lot more beautiful because of them,” Parks Superintendent Greg Brown said during the ceremony.
Dylan said he first noticed the ponds while attending summer camp at the Bayhead Complex.
“We would always walk over here and feed ducks bread and stuff. When we walked around the park, I realized how dirty it was,” he said.
Dylan just had become the environmental leader for his 4H club. He explained his idea to his 4H adviser and biology teacher Kathy Madzimbamuto, who contacted the city.
“I thought it was a good idea – we came down here and cleaned it up – since it was so close to our school,” Dylan said.
Quite separately, the city of Largo’s parks and engineering divisions were working on improving the two ponds that sit on either side of the city’s Bayhead Complex. The ponds provide stormwater treatment for the rainwater that runs off the Largo downtown area, cleaning the water before it ends up in Boca Ciega Bay and Tampa Bay, explained city engineer Leland Dicus. The filters weren’t working well.
“It was very costly to maintain them, and instead of simply replacing the filters, we wanted to improve them in a way that added greater value to the community,” he said.
The filters were upgraded to a stormwater harvesting system, explained in informational signs around the park. Bayhead now features thousands of newly planted shrubs, grasses, aquatic plants and trees. A 1/3-mile asphalt walking trail, open to the public, circles the ponds. The city also has installed a variety of park benches, picnic tables and trash and recycling bins.
Eventually, Bayhead Complex also will be home to a new skate park. The city broke ground for the skate park in conjunction with the reopening celebration Feb. 28. The skate park, to be built at the north side of the basketball courts, will include new equipment and pieces that were featured at Highland Recreation Complex before its reconstruction.
The 12,000-square-foot plaza likely will include a concrete bowl or empty swimming pool, a spine, steps and quarter pipes. Both skaters and bikers will be welcome.
To celebrate the wildlife habitat restoration efforts, the city invited youth to release about 230 bluegill fish, donated by the Florida Wildlife Commission, into the pond. Dylan released a turtle, which headed straight to the pond’s edge, diving into the cleaner water.
The Largo Middle School 4H club will continue looking after the ponds.
“Since we adopted, we’re going to keep cleaning it up twice a year,” Dylan explained.
“It’s your baby now,” commented Rick Boniface, who beamed at his son. “I’m proud of him. He’s always thinking of ways to improve things. He’s a very good kid.”
The park renovations were paid with funding from the Southwest Florida Water Management District and the city’s community development district downtown funds.
Bayhead Ponds Park, at 375 Seminole Blvd. in Largo, is open daily, from dawn to dusk.
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