Plans for a potential “pocket park” were introduced to the Harlan Tourist & Convention Commission board during a special called meeting on Tuesday. Brandon Pennington, executive director of Harlan Tourism, and Laura Adkisson, downtown development and event coordinator, said the park is part of the “modeling” University of Kentucky interns created in Harlan over the summer.

“They came and did research on the area all summer long and came a couple weeks ago to present a rendering of things we could do in Harlan,” Adkisson said.

The park was part of the modeling done to increase tourism-friendly activity in downtown Harlan, featuring a painted mural across the ground, string lights between the tops of two buildings, seating, greenery, speakers for soft-playing music and perhaps some form of stage to create an event space. The park was designed to fit in the empty space beside Abraham’s Musical Instruments store and Powers & Horton on Main Street.

“They have done a tremendous amount of mapping and modeling, giving us a lot of great tools we could use for grant applications,” Adkisson said.

Adkisson said the UK interns began calling the park “Lane on Main” during their design projects.

A few board members expressed concern for the misuse of the park, including drugs/alcohol.

“Anything we do has the potential to be misused,” Adkisson said. “But I think we could talk to (Harlan Police Chief) Wink (Yeary) about sending some guys to patrol through here more.

“Adding this park would make it more livable for locals and more attractive to tourists. You’re taking something that’s not being used and activating it. I think that might help.”

Adkisson said plans for the park must first be discussed with property owners before further action can be taken, noting that “some property owners are more accommodating than others.” Adkisson mentioned that since the space would mostly be left open, the property owners would still be able to use it for parking.

In addition to the park, plans were also drawn for permanent staging to be built leading down to the riverbed at the lower portion of the Harlan Center, a farmers market pavilion across from the courthouse and various concrete pathways leading to the gazebo located between the courthouse and justice center.

Adkisson and Pennington both agreed plans designed for the downtown projects would create a “perfect flow” for events, tourists and locals.

In other tourism activity:

• The board voted to accept the minutes of the previous meeting and the financial report;

• Friends of Harlan is now officially an incorporating a 501c3 effective Feb. 1. “We have the board in place and we’ll start holding quarterly meetings to keep things flowing,” Adkisson said. “We were very excited to get that letter in the mail.” The board will begin meetings in the next few months;

• A map and renderings of the Historic Harlan Museum and Cawood Ledford Exhibit were sent to Shawn Miller. “He’s going to go ahead and knock out some walls so we know what we’re dealing with,” Adkisson said. The board is now awaiting Miller’s recommendations and plans for the USS Harlan crew for remodeling purposes;

• A total of 22 invoices were issued since the boards June meeting for the retaining wall at Huff Park, making a total of 51 invoices sold. The board plans to finish collecting payments and sell the remaining nine blocks;

• Pennington announced that Harlan Tourism will not be represented at the Kentucky State Fair, along with 17 other counties, due to lack of booths. Harlan Tourism will, however, be attending a variety of other fairs and events, including the Tennessee Valley Fair;

• The board reviewed the Fun Filled Fourth of July Fest, estimating 6,000 people were in the downtown area to watch the fireworks display and attend the festival, with 49 runners in the Red, White & Zoom 5k, 25 vendors set up (food, retail, etc.) and 36 entries in the parade;

• The last two guided hikes of the season will be Aug. 17 at the Cumberland Shadow Trail and Sept. 21 at the Pine Mountain/Little Shepherd Trail. Hikers will meet at 9 a.m. for both hikes;

• Concerts on Clover continues at the Harlan Center Thursday at 6 p.m., featuring T.J. Hensley and Shyla Blevins. The series occurs every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. until Aug. 29;

• The Ice Cream Networking Social for Young Professionals takes place Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Harlan Center;

• The Summer Under the Stars event is canceled for Friday, but will continue Aug. 2 with a showing of Cars 3 starting at approximately 9 p.m. on the courthouse lawn;

• A kids fun fest will take place Saturday at the Harlan Center from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., featuring games, food, inflatables and more;

• Harlan Tourism’s Folk Fest will be Aug. 2 from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. in downtown Harlan. The event features a barbecue and Appalachian food contest, bluegrass music and storytelling;

• The second annual Shine Your Light 5k, benefiting the Cumberland Hope Center, will be Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. with registration opening at 7:30 p.m. in the lower parking lot of the Harlan Center. The cost of registration is $10 up until race day, increasing to $15 to register the day of the race. Three guest speakers will also share their experiences of the Cumberland Hope Center during the race. For more information, call 606-573-4156;

• The Harlan County Bicentennial Ball was set for Aug. 31 with two tickets costing $50. This includes food, dancing and more. Other details will be released at a later date.