Labyrinth at Maxcy Gregg Park, Columbia, South Carolina

This project has an interesting history. It was funded in part by Richard and Annette Bloch (H&R Block) in honor of a Richard's survival.
It's now January, 2010. Vangie Rich, Executive Director of the R. A. Bloch Cancer Foundation found these pages about the park. She writes:
"The Foundation was started because of Richard Bloch's recovery from cancer, the parks came about to get people thinking that cancer is survivable. We felt it was a strong message that would be seen day in and day out each time someone passed the park they would see the words Cancer and Survivorship and begin to change their perception of cancer equates to death to cancer can be survived. The philosophy of the plaques in the parks can be used to fight any life-threatening disease or adverse situation. It is all about positive attitude and knowledge."

There are bronze plaques at the sculpture garden at the front of the park with messages of hope and healing. They are a real inspiration to anyone who reads them. Here is an image of the sculpture garden:

Sculpture garden with inspiring bronze plaques in the Maxcy Gregg Cancer Survivor Park by the R. A. Bloch Cancer Foundation.

Sculpture garden with inspiring bronze plaques in the Maxcy Gregg Cancer Survivor Park by the R. A. Bloch Cancer Foundation.

The idea of a park where anyone can come and consider the movement in their lives is noble, to say the least. The project is interesting to me because it is a positive thing to do - Place a labyrinth in a public place where people will be able to come for hundreds of years and contemplate their lives. There were issues from the very beginning with local homeless folk, a very high profile group who might enjoy some healing in their lives. Well, maybe not so high profile since they are invisible to most. The contractors warned us about an encampment about 75 yards away by the stream under the railroad tracks. The architects were very concerned about itinerants sleeping on the swinging benchs around the labyrinth. Mostly, the campers avoided us. More about this later.

Robert and I stopped in to see how the pattern had faired over the last year. We'd colored the pattern in hot conditions and we wanted to see if it had weathered at all. The charcoal color was perfect, once we'd cleaned all the mud and silt off of the pattern.

This labyrinth looks like it had never been cleaned!

Imagine a tropical paradise with live oak trees with plenty of shade just out of reach of the concrete work space turned solar reflector. It was hot and humid in Columbia!

We took turns hauling water and scrubbing away a year of silt.

We washed and swept the mud away to reveal the beauty of this pattern. There were three people in mostly torpid states of consciousness reclined on the swinging benchs around us. There is a raised bronze plaque placed right across the entrance to this pattern. This particular plaque acknowledges two local Columbia sponsors of the park. When I saw it, I felt like the pattern had been vandalized. Even with all the silt on the pattern, I felt like the plaque blocked the entrance. It stuck up from the concrete over a half inch. It would easily trip an invalid. The names on the plaque were Colonial Supplemental Insurance and Palmetto Health. It said they 'sponsored' this labyrinth. I wish that the 'sponsors' were more sensitive to the energy of the place. Perhaps someone in a position of responsibility will have the plaque moved 3 feet to the right or left of the entrance?

If you know someone in a position of responsibility at Colonial Supplemental Insurance or Palmetto Health, please give them a call and ask them to move the plaque. It is interesting that this pattern is placed with the intention of healing and its entrance is blocked. The metaphor should not be lost. The symptoms of the blockage are all around; pattern covered with silt, stupified people around the pattern, a stagnant place in the city. I look forward to hearing from our friends in Columbia that this plaque has been moved out of the entrance to the labyrinth.

I spoke with a local business owner who was walking his dog at the edge of the park. He said that there are regular fights in the park between dopers and drinkers. It seems like cleaning up this part of town, just by keeping the labyrinth clean, would do something to improve the atmosphere here. People would be less afraid to come and walk the pattern.

I heard a story about a Big City clean up started by repairing broken windows. Next window boxes with flowers and herbs sprang up. Next, the public began to erase grafitti. The neighborhood looked and felt different. Crime declined. Creativity flourished. A neighborhood was reborn. This can happen at Maxcy Gregg Park.

Here is an image of the pattern after Robert and I had cleaned it.

Sweet!

March 22, 2007

I've been contacted by a local youth counselor named Matthew at Seven Oaks Presbyterian Church. He'll be taking his Senior Class there for some labyrinth programs. He says that Five Points is in the middle of a beautification project. Perhaps the homeless people have found homes. I hope that the energy of this project will spill over into the park. The labyrinth pattern connects us very easily with the Divine in our lives. May it be more accessible and better known to the whole city of Columbia. Maybe the students at USC will discover that test anxiety has a way of lessening or even dissappearing after a labyrinth walk.

Matthew has great hopes for the labyrinth becoming more prominant in the area. He also corrected my spelling from Maxey to Maxcy Gregg park. So maybe now the search engines will notice and help more people find the labyrinth! Thanks for the contact, Matthew!