County parks getting misting stations

Summertime is a busy time for parks as children who are out of school have a lot more time to get to the parks and play on the playground or other facilities.

One problem with that is the summer tends to get really hot in West Tennessee, which can either keep kids inside or potentially put them in danger of getting too hot.

Madison County’s parks and recreation department is fixing that with misting stations.

Two of those stations have already been installed – one at Pugh Bourne Park in Oakfield and the other at Pope Park on Westover Road.

Parks and Recreation Director Matthew Martin had no problem getting under the misting station while waiting on a co-worker running late to Pope Park this week.

“It’s so hot that my shirt may get wet in this thing, but it’ll dry off pretty quickly – maybe five minutes,” Martin said. “But also, the water that comes from it, it’s not a lot. Just enough to cool you down on a hot day.”

Martin said this is a pilot program with the two misting stations.

“If people enjoy them and want more of them, we’ll install more,” Martin said. “Because we want people enjoying our parks, and we want them to do it safely.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news