Nearly every city in Central Florida has an outdoor area where residents and visitors can spread out a blanket and watch a show. Winter Park has its Central Park. Orlando has its Lake Eola. Longwood has its Reiter Park.<\/p>\n
Now Sanford, one of the oldest cities in Central Florida, has launched its own nearly $6 million renovation of Fort Mellon Park that will add a new bandshell overlooking Lake Monroe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is very, very exciting,\u201d said Christopher Smith, Sanford\u2019s urban planning engineer. \u201cWe\u2019ve been wanting to do this for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the past two decades, Sanford has already invested millions of dollars in turning its downtown into a vibrant spot for visitors to enjoy a meal, attend a street festival or grab a cold one at one of the several micro-breweries.<\/p>\n
But Sanford\u2019s key downtown park has lacked a stage or an amphitheater, officials said.<\/p>\n
According to Sanford\u2019s plans, the new amphitheater will face Lake Monroe and the River Walk pathway along East Seminole Boulevard. It will include a \u201cstate of the art\u201d audio and visual electronic system \u201cto assuredly handle many types of events,\u201d a Sanford city press release said.<\/p>\n
Just to the west, the city will add landscaping and a hardscape around Lake Carola, named after the daughter of Henry Sanford, one of the city\u2019s founders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is long overdue, because of the many events that the city of Sanford holds in its downtown,\u201d said city Commissioner Sheena Britton, whose district includes Fort Mellon Park. \u201cI do believe that it\u2019s going to be one of our well-used amenities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cities have long set aside large green spaces within their urban cores to showcase events and serve as a hub for residents and visitors to interact, such as Altamonte Springs\u2019 Eddie Rose Amphitheater at Cranes Roost Park and the bandshell at Lake Eola Park in Orlando.<\/p>\n
Fort Mellon Park could be considered the equivalent of those parks, all centrally located near business districts. At roughly 17 acres, the park is bordered by Sanford and San Juan avenues, and East First and East Seminole boulevards.<\/p>\n
It also has a long history.<\/p>\n
In 1836, the U.S. Army built a fort in the area that was used as a supply depot and staging spot for soldiers during the Second Seminole War.<\/p>\n
A year later, Capt. Charles Mellon was killed during a surprise attack by Seminole forces. The area was later named in his honor, as more settlers moved in.<\/p>\n
Then in the mid-1880s, the city of Sanford annexed Mellonville as the area grew into a commercial hub along the St. Johns River. Buildings and homes sprouted around the site.<\/p>\n
Today, the new amphitheater and other improvements to Fort Mellon Park are being funded by the city\u2019s Community Redevelopment Agency.<\/p>\n
The work should be completed by fall 2026, according to city officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be a big hit,\u201d Smith said. \u201cMany generations will be able to enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly every city in Central Florida has an outdoor area where residents and visitors can spread out a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,28,114,266,115,139,141,140,2647,1014,109,1316],"class_list":{"0":"post-185587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-orlando","14":"tag-orlando-headlines","15":"tag-orlando-news","16":"tag-sanford","17":"tag-seminole-county","18":"tag-social","19":"tag-tourism"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}