Tuesday saw the City of Huntsville celebrate the opening of the new Legacy Park. Located off 6000 Cecil Fain Drive, where the former J.O. Johnson High School closed in 2016, the new park is a multipurpose arts, entertainment, and outdoor recreation site.

Local residents sampled free ice cream, demonstrations of the fitness equipment at the park, and enjoyed a musical performance by the Johnson High Alumni Jazz Band.

Legacy Park has walking trails, a children’s playground, spacious parking, and two entertainment pavilions, one of which comes complete with terraced seating, while its Fitness Court boasts a mural painted by local artist Jamal FRESKO Turner.

Commissioned through a partnership between the City of Huntsville, the National Fitness Campaign, Arts Huntsville, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Legacy Park’s Fitness Court – Huntsville’s second, after the Fitness Court at John Hunt Park – employs a circuit training system, designed to give a full-body workout in under ten minutes.

“We are proud to continue our mission of getting people moving outdoors, supporting public art and helping communities combat the fiscal and humanitarian costs of inactivity,” said Mitch Menaged, founder of NFC.

Mayor Tommy Battle was on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“From the start, our goal has been to honor the legacy of the J.O. Johnson Jaguars, while creating a neighborhood where people want to live, play, and raise their families,” said Mayor Tommy Battle. “Legacy Park, in conjunction with Johnson Legacy Center (JLC), achieves that. It is a crowning jewel for Northwest Huntsville.”