Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1540272
72 maconmagazine.com | October/November 2025 "a beautiful passive park to enjoy and reflect," Bicentennial Park is located not just in a significant place to Macon's past, but its future. Across from the stickball field, the historic DeWitt- McCrary House is being reenvisioned as a potential Muscogee cultural center. The old Bibb Mill site has plans to become a multimillion-dollar development championed by the mayor, the East Bank project. The Macon Coliseum is being replaced by a new state-of-the-art arena. And Maconites wait on Washington with baited breath in hopes that the Ocmulgee Mounds will soon be designated as Georgia's first National Park. The park is poised to be at the center – with vibrant public art on a scale Macon has rarely seen as the anchor of it all. When asked why the city should invest in art, Averbuch did not hesitate. "It's like, why plant a tree? These pieces are part of our lives," he said. "People hang pictures in the house, in the park, they come for a monument. It has a memory of all kinds of things, and it's a place for discussion. Sometimes it angers people, sometimes it makes them believe in things, sometimes it moves us forward. I think it's really important for a place to have public work. You don't have to have a lot. They mark the land, and they create a focal point in the place. It can be a great source of conversation." The land beneath Bicentennial Park has been talking for over 200 years, but it seems like with the new improvements, the conversation is just getting started. Please note: Julia Morrison served as the marketing chair for the Macon200 Bicentennial Committee and has been working on the plans surrounding the park. "Macon is embracing our history, letting us have a place back in our original homelands. It really does represent a time of reconciliation for our people to come back." A child stands in front of Kenneth Johnson's "ECKE." Eventually, a stickball player made out of bronze will complete the piece. Join the celebration: The Bicentennial Park ribbon cutting is November 13.