Opening of Harmony Park Community Garden celebrated in Abbeville

If planting a seed can grow something beautiful in a garden, creating a garden on a once derelict property can sprout lasting beauty in the community.
That is exactly what organizers of Abbeville’s Harmony Park Community Garden have in mind.
City officials, representatives of multiple organizations, benefactors and volunteers gathered Wednesday morning to cut the ribbon on Harmony Park. The community garden is located at the corner of Lamar Street and Martin Luther King Drive, a property adjudicated to the city in 2008. It is eligible to serve a public purpose.
Harmony Park features various fruit trees, vegetables and bedding plants. There are also benches where people can sit.
“My heart is full,” Abbeville Main Street Manager Charlene Beckett said. “This has been a difficult project, but look at the result.
“It’s absolutely beautiful.”
It began as a beautification project for Keep Abbeville Beautiful, with the effort ramping up in early ‘21.
“If you drove down this road (before) that time,” Beckett said, “you saw that this property was overgrown with scrub trees all over.
“It’s amazing to see exactly how this has turned out.”
That didn’t come without plenty of hard work and generosity. An early donation by Mrs. Phallie Sellers helped propel the project.
“This would not be possible without the city and Mrs. Phallie,” Beckett said. “Thank you.”
Numerous donations from many across the community followed. Members of the Rotary Club of Abbeville built a fence. Jacob Anderson cut the lumber for the beds. Others helped build the beds.
“I cannot thank the city workers enough,” Beckett said. “I cannot thank the Mayor (Mark Piazza) and the City Council enough. The fence is absolutely gorgeous. Rotary Club members came on a Saturday. It’s just an awesome project.”
Beckett said she could “go on forever,” thanking everyone who played a role. Piazza said the amount of people involved is one of the great aspects of this project.
“You know of the expression goes about taking a village,” Piazza said. “It does take a village to make a difference. When you see the crowd out here today, you can tell what kind of community support we had.”
Members of the Harmony Park committee helped guide the project along the way. Those member are Councilwoman Terry Broussard, whose District D includes the area, incoming Councilman-at-Large Carlton Campbell, Russell Alexis, Mandy Armentor, Anna Barras, James Broussard, Chad Duhon, Patsy Hebert, Liz Gremillion Hebert, Kimya Hill, Dwayne Briggs and Ralph Hutchinson and Beckett. The late Marietta Clark also served on the committee.
“Everyone involved needs to give themselves a big round of applause,” Piazza said.
James Broussard offered a special thanks to Beckett.
“She brought everyone along at the beginning,” he said, “dragging us kicking and screaming at times. She stayed with us. Without her, we wouldn’t be standing here.”
Councilwoman Broussard said she was proud to be standing in the community garden.
“I want to thank everyone for the many efforts to make this a success,” she said.
Piazza said it truly is a success, one that can grow profoundly.
“This started as blighted property,” Piazza said. “You can already tell the difference, just in the surrounding area.
“This is what it takes to change a neighborhood and community.”