Release from Floyd County, GA:
A fresh, modern look alongside increased accessibility are two of the first things you may notice as part of the new Rome-Floyd ECO Center.
Floyd County and Rome City Commissioners received a sneak peek of the newly refurbished Rome-Floyd ECO Center on Thursday afternoon. The center re-opens to the public on Saturday, March 15.
“The ECO Center is representative of one of many Rome and Floyd County joint projects. While the center has always been a tremendous learning resource for this region, the newly renovated center is much more accessible and much improved,” Floyd County Commission Chair Allison Watters said. “This hands-on classroom will continue to serve thousands of school children and adults as well. This SPLOST-funded renovation is a fabulous investment for the citizens of Floyd County.”
Updates to the center, located in Ridge Ferry Park at 393 Riverside Parkway, were made possible through SPLOST. Voters approved the work to the center in the 2017 special purpose local option sales tax.
From its beginning, the center has been a SPLOST project though the original use of the building was as a water pump station for the City of Rome, built in 1893. That pump station was renovated and re-opened as the ECO Center using funds from the 2006 SPLOST.
“We are thankful to our city and county and especially the public for supporting the Rome-Floyd ECO Center and believing in our mission,” ECO Center Environmental Educator Sarah Johnson said. “We are proud to offer this natural resource education to citizens and visitors and look forward to many more years of growth.”
Each year, the center hosts thousands of students from the city and county school systems who learn about their environment and all the plants and animals that live around us.
Home to a number of large-scale aquariums featuring fish, turtles and frogs native out our area and is also home to a wetlands demonstration area, used to educate students about the environment and benefits of preserving our natural environment.
Rome-Floyd ECO Center Director Ben Winkelman thanked the staff at the center for all the hard work they’ve done in the renovation process.
In the picture from Floyd County, GA: Keep Rome-Floyd Beautiful’s Hannah Bagley drew a sketch of the newly renovated ECO Center, and staff surprised her by placing it on the celebration cake!