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By Jim Buice

For the Clemmons Courier

Jack Warren Park has been open for 15 years, but the popular venue in Lewisville will be in the spotlight this Saturday with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony and dedication event introducing multiple significant additions.

Highlighting the celebration from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the 15-acre complex at 7788 Warren Park off of Lewisville-Clemmons Road will be a dedication of the Mike Horn Amphitheater in honor of the town’s longtime mayor.

The affable Horn, who was made aware of the recognition in a Lewisville Town Council meeting last September, was caught off guard and virtually speechless at the time.

Horn later paid tribute that night to Mary Alice Warren, who donated the 30 acres to the town that became Jack Warren Park in 2010 and the Mary Alice Warren Community Center in 2021.

“Mary Alice, I hope you’re watching tonight because she does watch our meetings.” Horn said. “So if you’re watching, just know that so much of this would not have been possible without you and your generous wonderful gift of land to the town of Lewisville and its citizens.”

The new amphitheater will provide yet another community gathering place to go for events and celebrations along with Shallowford Square, which is only a mile away.

Other updates at Jack Warren Park include an expansion to the nature trail and an 18-hole “Ace Place” disc golf course.

Town Manager Stacy Tolbert said she hopes these kinds of projects “will continue to nourish our residents and be yet another place where the community can thrive.”

Tolbert said that the park improvements were funded by a matching grant from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.

In last Thursday night’s council meeting, Tom Lawson officially took the oath of office after receiving a majority vote in the March 6 briefing and agenda meeting to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Julie Puckett from the board last month.

Horn, who said this is only the second time in 33 years that the council has needed to appoint a new member to the council in midterm, explained the process taken after Puckett’s departure.

He said that council members were asked to submit names of individuals that they thought should be considered with the board then forming a subcommittee that included Horn and council members Melissa Hunt and Ivan Huffman.

“We wanted to come up with some criteria,” Horn said. “We wanted to say experience is important, involvement with the town over the course of time is important and understanding how government works is important. And when we took the 12 or 13 names that had been suggested by the council members and were really able to boil it down to four people.”

A council vote followed with Lawson, a former mayor and council member in Lewisville, voted in to fill the vacancy and the rest of the term created by Puckett’s resignation.

“Tom Lawson is certainly not a stranger to Lewisville,” Horn said of Lawson, who was serving as chairman of the planning board until being appointed to the council. “He knows his way around town, and we are exceptionally fortunate to have somebody like Tom step in. We won’t lose a beat. When we’re ready to go into budget, Tom knows what that is all about.”

That wasn’t the only appointment in the meeting. The council also made a couple of committee appointments with Huffman being named a Piedmont Triad Regional Council alternate and Hunt selected for the Special Projects Review Committee.

The council made the following appointments to town boards:

• Planning Board: Philip May, Don McClain, Michael Mulligan, Sarah Van Huis

• Willow Run Municipal Service District (Area 3): Jeffrey Rawls

• Willow Run Municipal Service District (At-large): Nelson Fulcher

• Zoning Board of Adjustment: Ken Wernick

And to these committees:

• Parks & Recreation: Billy Carter Junior

• Public Art: John Armbruster, Barbara Campbell, Elizabeth Miller, Debra Mullin, Daniel Robinson, Sarah Reece, Rebecca Scherbak

In other items from last Thursday’s night meeting and other Lewisville news: 

The council approved a contract with Gibson & Company P.A. to perform the annual independent audit of the town’s financial statement for fiscal year 2024-25 for a fee not to exceed $33,510.

The council honored resident Barbara Campbell as “I’m One of the Reasons Lewisville is a Great Place to Live” because of her involvement with arts and crafts in the community.

2025 Creek Week events will include a Shoreline Garden Kit Giveaway March 27-28 at Mary Alice Warren Community Center, NC Stream Watch from 10 a.m. to noon March 29 at Jack Warren Park, and Lewisville Yadkin River Paddle with Yadkin Riverkeeper from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 29 at 421 River Park.

Lewisville Earth Day will be on April 12 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Jack Warren Park.