Music park at Burrell Brooks, Jr. Community Park ribbon cutting ceremony

On Friday, June 26, 2020, citizens, friends and family, Parks and Recreation Commission members, Warren County Board of Supervisors members, and County Administrator Doug Stanley gathered to welcome Dr. Lorraine LeHew Hultquist’s generous gift to Burrell Brooks, Jr. Community Park.

This is Dr. Hultquist’s third music park donation to the Warren County park system. In 2017, Ms. Hultquist suggested the idea of adding a music park to one of the County’s facilities after visiting similar parks in Utah and Oregon, and the County celebrated the first music park addition at Rockland Park in November 2017. The following year, a second music park addition was built in Lions Park.

In late 2019, Dr. Lorraine LeHew Hultquist donated the new Deluxe Collection music system to be installed at Burrell Brooks, Jr. Community Park. The mixed quartet offers a musical experience for all through a specially designed ensemble that delivers a variety of sound qualities and pitch ranges. The equipment is multi-generational, interactive, durable, and perfectly tuned. Everyone, regardless of age or ability, can play. Her generous support of the music parks will allow our community to enjoy the enrichment of music and will inspire future musicians.

At the ribbon cutting, long-time Warren County Parks and Recreation Commission member Ron Harvey provided a history of the Commission, recreation in the community, and how the generosity of the community has allowed the parks to flourish.

Board of Supervisors Vice Chair and South River District Supervisor Cheryl Cullers noted the importance of music in the development of children, who will now have the opportunity to enjoy this park and its new addition donated by Dr. Lorraine LeHew Hultquist. She added, “The addition of this music equipment to Burrell Brooks Park will, I believe, give the children of the community at an early age, access to music as an avenue to hopefully start a lifelong love of music, as well as to have the experience to exercise their own creative musical talents.”

The Warren County Parks and Recreation Department is very grateful for Dr. Hultquist’s generous gifts to our local parks for the benefit of all citizens. County Administrator Doug Stanley, noting her previous donations, stated, “I would like to personally thank Lorraine for her kind and generous monetary gift for this magnificent music park for all of Warren County patrons to enjoy and for her support of the entire Parks and Recreation system. It is truly fitting that she is honored today for her gracious and kind gift!”

Music Park at Burrell Brooks, Jr. Community Park

Dr. Lorraine LeHew Hultquist playing the new music park instruments

Warren County Administrator, Doug Stanley, welcoming attendees and expressing his gratitude to Dr. Hultquist

Cheryl Cullers, Board of Supervisors Vice Chair, speaking about the benefits of music for children

Ron Harvey providing historical context to the event on behalf of the Parks and Recreation Commission and focusing on the spirit of generosity in the citizens of Warren County

(L to R) Ron Harvey, Parks and Recreation Commission; Carolyn Kissinger, Parks and Recreation Commission; Cheryl Cullers, Vice Chair of the Board of Supervisors; Dr. Lorraine LeHew Hultquist, benefactor; Walter Mabe, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors; Archie Fox, Board of Supervisors; and Douglas P. Stanley, County Administrator, cutting the ribbon

Friends and family of Dr. Hultquist celebrating the new music park