FRANKLIN — Downtown Franklin is getting a facelift with a pocket park that will add extra beauty to the area as well as memorialize a victim of the Lafayette Grand Theater shooting in 2015. 

A proposal was unveiled at last week’s Franklin City Council meeting by City Inspector Glenn Todd and Public Relations Director Ed “Tiger” Verdin for the “Historic Downtown Franklin Pocket Park.”

The park will be located at the site of the former Center Theatre in Franklin, which was demolished in 2016. According to city officials, the theater was deemed unsalvageable after it was unoccupied for years. 

The pocket park comes as an attempt to increase foot traffic in downtown Franklin. With the area being vacant, according to a prepared statement, “It was envisioned that the space was ripe and would be the right eco-friendly area to help create foot traffic for our downtown area and spur the ongoing revitalization of Franklin.”

The park will honor Mayci Breaux, a Franklin native who was killed during a 2015 mass shooting at The Grand Theater in Lafayette. A student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Breaux was one of two who killed during the shooting. 

“As nature has a way of calming, healing and unifying, an open air art space and stage memorializing Mayci Breaux within the park will deliver a message of hope and healing for generations to come,” according to a prepared statement. 

A memorial fountain is planned for the park, which will be dedicated to all victims of violence in the community in an attempt to create a space for reflection, comfort and solace. 

The pocket park will include an inviting “Gateway to the Bayou Teche” sign made up of wrought iron and brick. The gate will be “emblazoned with scenes of nature found on the historic waterway which will welcome all who enter its gates.”

Four wrought iron benches, three of them donated by the Rotary Club in Franklin, will be shadowed by a bronze ballet dancer standing tall as well. 

Todd said at the meeting that personalized bricks in the three sections of the park will be sold for the purpose of creating a “living time capsule” that can recognize not only families but events, designations, titles and historic events in and around Franklin. The bricks will be sold in phases which will determine the final costs of the public brick sale price.

Mayor Eugene Foulcard thanked  Francis Todd Art Gallery and Judy Todd for the first donation.

The city is foreseeing a ground-breaking in the beginning of 2020. which will coincide with other Bicentennial events planned.