Maya Smith
Volunteers worked side by side with the Fourth Bluff team today to paint Riverside Drive between Court and Jefferson Avenue, bringing life to the pop-up park, RiverPlay, which is set to open May 5.
The goal today was to get the community involved with the project, by completing the street mural that spans the park, which will soon hold basketball courts, ping pong tables, a skating rink, and seating areas.
Grants coordinator for the City of Memphis and backer of the Fourth Bluff project, Maria Fuhrmann says it’s important for people to get involved and have input on the things going on in their city.
“We want the public to feel ownership and stewardship over public spaces like this,” Fuhrmann said.
Meg Johnson, a designer at Groundswell Design Group, the Philadelphia-based firm helping to conceptualize the Fourth Bluff, says the group wanted to do a bright, colorful mural that talks about the Mississippi River.
“We wanted to start a dialogue about it being adjacent to the river,” Johnson said. “So we wanted to feature flora and fauna that can be found right there in the Mississippi River.”
