The owner of a plot of land along a dead end road in Buckingham is hoping to turn part of the property into a place where special needs children can get away from it all.
Mark Tracy has been transforming his 5500 Higginbotham Road land into Artful Gardens for the past two years and is working on getting nonprofit status and a license to work as a nursery.
“The reason for it all is Cody,” Tracy said, speaking about his 9-year-old nephew who is autistic. “Two years ago he moved down here. I realized there’s not enough things around in this area for special needs kids, so we’re trying to build a park that’s for them.”
On a recent Thursday, students from the Easter Seals Lily Academy in Fort Myers, a school for children with autism and related disabilities, were invited to the park.
The half-dozen students spent a lot of time splatter-painting wooden benches, enjoying the free-spirited painting style.
“They like it better when they do their own thing,” said Maria Botero, director at the academy. “This is more in tune with an autistic child. They all love it.”
Tracy’s dream for Artful Gardens involves activities like this and a lot more.
The six-acre gardens is expected to officially open later this year.
But for Tracy, the plans run deeper and are much more involved than just a play area for special needs children.
“I would eventually like to build a home, dorm-style, for autistic and special needs people so they could live and work here,” he said.
Tracy added the park will also be for the parents and caregivers of those special needs children.
“They need to take a break, too,” he said.,
Tracy plans to hold fundraising events there and eventually hire adults with disabilities to work in the gardens, building furniture, etc.
The gardens are about 75 percent complete with several pavilions under construction and an orchard on the property.
The gardens are a labor of love for the retired landscaper, railroad worker and bar owner.
“He does this as a hobby,” said his sister Gail Strope. Tracy is building a home on the property for her and Cody.
Tracy has turned the property into an eclectic, colorful wonderland with covered rest areas, clumps of flowers and trees, paths, shallow stream-beds and sculptures.
He and his three full-time Artful Gardens employees have built, decorated and painted a lot on their own, but Tracy welcomes any area artists to come out and let their muses run free on whatever surface is handy.
“They can come out and do whatever they want,” he said. “It will always keep on changing, the painting or the way it looks. I might get bored with one area and dismantle it and rebuild.”
He hopes, in the long run, many will come out to enjoy.
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IF YOU GO
Artful Gardens is at 5500 Higginbotham Road, off Orange River Boulevard, in Buckingham.
To contact Mark Tracy: His cell is 239-980-3960 and his email is gardenguymark@aol.com
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