7/13/01

AUBURN UNIVERSITY TO BREAK GROUND ON AG HERITAGE PARK

AUBURN -- Auburn University's College of Agriculture will break ground Tuesday, July 17, on Ag Heritage Park, a $3 million project designed as a lasting tribute to the role that Auburn agriculture and the state's farmers have played in the history of Alabama.

The event will begin at 3 p.m. adjacent to the Old Red Barn, located south of Samford Avenue between Donahue Drive and Wire Road.

Participating in the groundbreaking will be AU Trustee John Blackwell of Huntsville; AU Interim President William F. Walker; AU Trustee John Blackwell; Luther Waters, dean of Auburn's College of Agriculture; Richard Guthrie, associate dean of the College of Agriculture; Mike Kilgore, president of the AU Agriculture Alumni Association; and Jerry Newby, president of ALFA/Alabama Farmers Federation.

ALFA has contributed $500,000 to the project, contingent on AU raising an additional $500,000 from other donors.

Guthrie says the Ag Heritage Park will serve as a bridge between agriculture's future and past, both at Auburn and throughout the state.

"Certainly, Ag Heritage Park will be a monument to the contributions Auburn has made to agriculture and that agriculture has made to Alabama, as well as to the role that agriculture has played at this university," he said. "But I think, more than that, it will serve as a link -- as a celebration of what we have accomplished and a reminder of just how much more we can and should do. We want it to appeal to the young people of Alabama who visit the park and give them an exposure to agriculture unlike any they can get elsewhere.

"What we are building here is an attraction is both unique and valuable to the university, the Auburn community and to the entire state."

The park is the brainchild of several AU Ag Alumni Association and AU faculty members who wanted to preserve the Old Red Barn and also find a permanent site for College of Agriculture functions. The barn will be the centerpiece of the park, which will also include renovation of the nearby old dairy barn, where dairy treats such as ice cream and shakes will be available to visitors; an amphitheater; fish ponds and demonstration areas highlighting Alabama's plant and animal life and food crops; and a pavilion, dedicated to the farmers of Alabama and built with funds from the ALFA commitment, to be used for a variety of activities.

Long-term plans for the park also call for walking trails, landscaped with native flora, that will include interesting, historic campus sites related to Alabama agriculture.

AU is accepting donations toward the Ag Heritage Park project through Chris Gary, director of development for the College of Agriculture. Gary can be reached by telephone at 334/844-1136 or by mail at 317 S. College St., Auburn University, AL, 36849. Checks should be made out to the Auburn University Foundation with notation that the contribution is for the Ag Heritage Park project.

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CONTACT: Waters, 334/844-2345; Guthrie, 334/844-3211; Gary, 334/844-1136.