In the Vacant Spaces

In the Vacant Spaces

THE CITY OF FRANKLIN DEBUTS A POCKET PARK

By Catherine Schoeffler Comeaux

As a child in the 1970s, I frequently visited my grandmother in Franklin, Louihsiana. Our car would exit south off Highway 90, pass stretches of sugar cane fields, then approach the signature three-globed lamp posts of Main Street. Downtown, we’d pass Popkin’s where the jeweler once let me watch him make a ring, Polito’s where my uncle used to play cards, and the theater from which my grandma once dragged me out mid-movie after John Travolta made some off-color remark. Today, the jewelry store is closed, but new businesses continue to locate downtown. Polito’s still serves beer, and the movie theater has become the Teche Theatre for the Performing Arts. There is a vibrancy emerging in and between the historic structures, particularly in the vacant space where The Center Theatre (circa 1930s) stood until 2015 when it was deemed structurally unsound.

Plans for a replacement building were sketched, including a plan for an open air pavilion with a $1 million price tag that laid dormant on a shelf for many years. When current Mayor Eugene Foulcard came into office in 2019, he put forth an alternative vision for the space to remain relatively empty, encouraging foot traffic while reconnecting Main Street to the original main thoroughfare upon which the City of Franklin was developed in the early 1800s–the Bayou Teche. He gathered a team and they worked to formulate the plans for the Historic Downtown Franklin Pocket Park, which will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, November 27.

The park is a cozy green space, with a simple stage and newly-planted trees, flanked by the patchwork brick walls of its neighbors and lit by golden string lighting at night. It draws you in with its wide meandering pathway that leads your eyes to the waters of the bayou. Bricks along the way honor and memorialize loved ones and businesses. A peaceful murmur emanates from a sugar kettle fountain dedicated to the memory of those who have died of gun violence. Aspects of the park—most notably the life-sized sculpture of a dancer near the gate—are dedicated to the late Franklin resident Mayci Breaux, who was tragically killed in the Lafayette Grand Theater shooting in 2015.

The sculpture was created by Russel Whiting, an artist living near the Bayou Teche town of Breaux Bridge who graciously invited a few of us—including Mayci’s parents Dondie and Kevin Breaux—to view the piece in progress. Whiting layers thick sheets of steel, then cuts away at the resulting mass—creating an arm uplifted, a leg ready for the next step. Skillfully using a torch to shape the nose, lips, and upturned eyes, he brings forth a smiling face. I asked Whiting if he gets burned much. “All the time,” he smiled, brushing off his arms—seemingly peaceful and accepting of pain as the price of creation.

Gazing at the indestructible likeness of her daughter emerging from the steel, Dondie Breaux sighed, “We have a small town, but we sure do come together.”

A powerful example of collective community, the Historic Downtown Franklin Pocket Park—a once-empty space now filled with art and potential—was 100% funded by the Franklin community.

The City of Franklin will host the Grand Opening of the Historic Downtown Franklin Pocket Park on Saturday, November 27 from 10 am–11 am. The ceremony will include the dedication of the memorial fountain, the sculpture unveiling, and music by the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra String Trio. The event will culminate with a reverse ribbon cutting which will release attendees from the park and into the streets of downtown to support Small Business Saturday. Visit the City of Franklin, Louisiana–Mayor’s Office Facebook page for details.