City of Sikeston to add new attractions to bring in visitors

SIKESTON, Mo. (KFVS) - A major financial boost will change the face of downtown Sikeston.

It’s all in an effort to add new attractions for the community and visitors to enjoy.

”It just speaks to the forward thinking and the development of making things better in Sikeston, said Parks and Recreation Director Dustin Care.

He’s talking about the more than $750,000-worth of changes coming to Legion Park.

[ 4 southeast Mo. projects receive more than $3M in grants ]

“The scope of the project would be expanding the green space and then were constructing a new bathroom downtown and open area markets and also expanding the second phase of our rail trail,” he explained.

Care said they’re also adding a family-friendly seasonal attraction, a new ice skating rink.

“We’re hoping with the portable ice skating rink that’ll attract visitors from all over the state including Kentucky, Illinois, potentially western part of Tennessee,” he said.

We caught up with one local business owner who said the new attractions to the downtown area are exactly what her city needs.

“This is gonna bring a lot more foot traffic to the downtown area,” said Paige McCormick, COO at Sam’s Fine Jewelry. “These downtown businesses thrive off of people just going out on nice days, hanging out; and so being in view of park area is gonna be fantastic for us because people are gonna be walking through constantly.”

Care said their goal is to meet the needs of the community, and this is just another step in the right direction.

“It’s gonna benefit not only our whole community but also others that may be in neighboring counties or cities that don’t have these options and so it’s just, it’s just real exciting and really looking forward to starting this project,” Care said.

Sikeston city leaders say the construction phase will begin soon and they hope to have it fully completed by the end of 2024.

Copyright 2023 KFVS. All rights reserved.