WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Three parks in Williamsport will soon get a small makeover, and the United States Air Force is helping fund it.
"The Air Force has agreed to sponsor the city of Williamsport, specifically three basketball courts, with a $9,500 sponsorship to give three basketball courts a facelift in our community," said Master Sgt. Leo Knight-Inglesby.
Knight-Inglesby is the Air Force and Space Force representative in the north-central Pennsylvania area. He has lived in the Williamsport area for a few years and wanted to find a way to give back. Now, six new Air Force branded basketball hoops will be installed at Memorial, Shaw, and Youngs Woods Parks.
"Maybe a little bit of an advertisement but more so we are using this as an ability to use our marketing funds to reinvigorate the parks in our community and hopefully give our kids more options than running down the negative influence that exists in our area," he added.
Williamsport also hopes to fund new pavements at the courts at all three parks.
"Pending council approval, we are going to resurface all the basketball courts, pickleball courts, and the tennis courts. It is all going to have a positive impact on our parks," said Mayor Derek Slaughter.
If funding is approved, the court at Memorial Park will be Air Force-themed. This comes after the city put out a survey last August asking people what improvements they would like to see. One of the top two answers was recreation.
"We are reinvesting in our parks and recreation, and we believe that is going to have a positive impact on the community and raise the morale of neighborhoods," added Slaughter.
The six new hoops will be installed in the spring and will be unveiled on Memorial Day in 2023.
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