Despite the dog days of summer and the heat they bring, the preliminary dirt work on the O.C. Cannon Fishing Park is underway in White Hall.
Cannon, 79, of White Hall, died April 3, and the park was named in his honor. It's behind the Crenshaw Water Park and the White Hall Community Center at the intersection of Dollarway and West Hoadley roads.
The park will include two picnic pavilions at a cost of about $10,000 each and a pier that extends from the banks of the pond out over the water, said Jeff May, assistant to the mayor, who is working on the project.
White Hall Mayor Noel Foster explained the reason for the pavilions.
"I would like people to have a place to sit down and eat, enjoy the view," he said.
May said the pier will be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, giving everyone an opportunity to fish.
It was designed by McClelland Consulting Engineers Inc. of Little Rock, and the city will have to find a contractor that has the experience in and can handle this type of work.
"We are going to meet with some [contractors] that are experienced in pier building as soon as we can," May said, adding that currently they have no idea of the cost of the pier or the park.
However, the city Maintenance and Public Works departments will do as much of the work as possible, May said.
The goal is to have the pavilions installed by late fall, but, May said, it depends on availability of construction materials and other factors, such as the weather, that could slow the work.
The construction of the pier will probably take longer than the pavilions, May said.
Although the two-acre fishing hole is off the beaten track, it's patrolled -- and stocked three times a year with bream, crappie and bass -- by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
Earlier this year, the White Hall City Council unanimously approved the creation of the fishing park and at the May 5 White Hall Chamber of Commerce 2022 awards banquet, emcee and Council Member David Beck announced the city's newest park to the public.
"It's used daily and is easily accessed," Foster said. "It made sense to enhance it."
The fishing park will add to the city's growing recreational offerings, Foster said. Last year, the city opened an enclosed double dog park inside White Hall City Park on Parkway Drive.
A LITTLE HISTORY
Foster was the newly elected White Hall mayor about 10 years ago when he and O.C. Cannon, co-owner of Cannon Contracting Inc., were talking about the cost of dirt, estimated at between $250,000 and $300,000, needed for the construction of the planned White Hall Community Center on Dollarway Road.
Cannon offered to dig a two-acre pond on the property behind the future community center at a cost of $50,000. The dirt from the pond would be used in the construction, meaning Cannon saved the city's taxpayers about $250,000, Foster said.
Cannon's idea paid off in more ways than just savings. It soon became a popular Jefferson County fishing hole.