EASTON, MD - Neighbors in the town of Easton are bidding farewell to the Idlewild Park Playground tile walkway after 17 years.
Town officials said some of the tiles have been damaged beyond repair through the years, and that members from the public works department will be removing the tiles on or around October 4th.
WBOC spoke with neighbors who said the walkway holds special memories for the community. Grace Lyons, who visits the park with her kids regularly, said it's going to be a sad goodbye.
"It's a piece of history almost at this point," Lyons said. "I see names of people that I know or teachers that I had along the years but the tiles have seen better days."
Michael McCormack was one of the original tile artists back in 2007. He said he remembers less about actually painting the tile, and more about what the memories surrounding it mean to him.
"It is fading a little bit so I can see why they're taking it down," McCormack said. "Hopefully there's something they can bring in for the community to be together again. You don't have many places like this in town where everybody feels like they're apart of it."
Town officials ask that those in the community refrain from trying to remove any tiles. Instead, they ask that neighbors submit ideas for what to do with the space in the future.
McCormack said he hopes they keep any salvageable tiles, and combine them with new ones.
"People my age are having kids now and stuff," McCormack said. "Their kids could paint it and you could have people all together and just add to it every 15 years or so."
Town officials ask that any ideas be submitted to the Easton Parks and Recreation Department.
Leaders also said that any photos taken of the wall can be tagged with #Idlewildtilewall to make an online gallery wall commemorating the walkway.
