Back in 2005 the Town of Shenandoah held regular Parks and Recreation meetings. This is when Councilman Charlie Jenkins was chairman of the Parks and Recreation Committee and Dane Buse was Parks director. This is when the Big Gem Advisory Committee was formed. Meeting minutes from November 1 2005 stated the committee created a flyer for a Big Gem logo contest. This went to the town council for approval. The contest received several entries. The winning entry came from Shenandoah resident and park volunteer Jackie Staples. This logo was taken to Letter Perfect in Shenandoah and had the design put on hats and T-shirts. The profits from the shirts and hats went back into the Parks and Recreation fund. The items around the logo are, starting with top, going clockwise; the gazebo at the park, Indian represents Shenandoah daughter of the stars, rolling hills in the park, glove & ball represents the ball field project, the deer symbolizes the deer that can be found in the park, net and fishing represents fishing in Big Gem Pond, the next image is represents the Big Gem furnace, the next image is the ducks you will see at the pond, and the center image represents a family, as Big Gem is a family park. The park logo is on the back side of the shirt and on the front is a rolling mountain scene with words Big Gem Park Shenandoah Va under it. Having its own T-Shirt is kind of unique, as most town parks don’t have T-shirts. As of September 25, 2014 the town has 4 green XL; 3 purple XL and 1 red XL shirt. They also have 3 green Big Gem Park hats. Shirts are $15 and hats were $10 and both benefit P &R fund. Please stop in the town office and get your now, as you can see, there aren’t very many left.
