Macon Magazine

February/March 2026 | maconmagazine.com 29 Support the Rosa Parks Square fund by donating at the Community Foundation of Central Georgia. "We wanted a place that people could actually use — especially people who don't always feel like public spaces are built for them." The ribbon cutting of Spirit of Macon Park. For pictures of the newly redesigned Rosa Parks Square, see the Hero feature with Justice Verda Colvin, former Friends of Rosa Parks Square board member, on page 48. as AARP. The result is a green space designed not as a passive park, but as an active one. Gaudet said, "We wanted a place that people could actually use — especially people who don't always feel like public spaces are built for them." Planned programming at Spirit of Macon Park includes wellness activities accessible to seniors, transit employees, and community members of varying abilities. Infrastructure improvements to the surrounding intersection, such as restriped bike lanes and new electronic pedestrian crossing boxes, have also reshaped the area into a safer and more navigable part of downtown. Cooke sees Rosa Parks Square and Spirit of Macon Park as part of the same civic moment. "Rosa Parks Square is part of a larger shift in how Macon is thinking about who public spaces are for," she said. "This moment is about equity, access, and belonging." Though they emerged from different paths — one rooted in a long history of civil rights and gathering places, the other unearthed recently through art in an unlikely corner of Macon — both parks reflect a city investing in shared spaces that invite participation, connection, and care. Together, they signal a future where Macon's public places are not just landmarks but living, breathing parts of everyday community activities.

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