LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Speedy Denny grew up in the landscaping business. His dad owned a sod company, and he spent years working with his hands in the soil. Downtown Richmond had an eyesore off Main Street, that was essentially paved over to cover a sewer line. Denny had an idea for that space, and as luck would have it, he also had a friend in the city manager.
“I said I’ve got a collection of millstones, I’d love to give them to the city, and I’ll put them in for free,” Denny recalled of his conversation in 2018.
His idea was given the green light and one year later, in September of 2019 he went to work.
“He said, ‘you're good to go.’ No paperwork, no contract, no plans, nothing. He said, ‘do whatever you've got in mind,’” Denny explained.
He started with 8 millstones of his own, then literally began knocking on doors to see if homeowners had some stone, they wouldn’t mind parting with. Word began to spread among community members who came to Denny’s Facebook page to help him locate more. Some were donated. The rest wasn’t cheap.
“I had to pay them some pretty good money, I didn't care cause i knew it would turn out to be something pretty good,” Denny said.
Five years ago the first stone went in, and now, there are 45 millstones housed in Millstone Park, which is also the centerpiece and namesake of a popular Richmond fall festival and car show taking place this Saturday.
“We always wanted Richmond to have an identity,” said Erin Moore from the city’s Parks and Recreation department. “After this park was created, we said, 'let's start a festival and base it on the millstones'. Millstone Park has been such a wonderful addition to downtown,” she added.
The millstones are worth thousands of dollars and weigh thousands of pounds. Mr. Denny used his landscaping equipment to get them all in. Masons made and designed concrete platforms to hold the giant stones. Many donors were given name recognition on those platforms.
“Such a fabulous thing to see this come from just an idea to reality,” Moore said. “It's amazing to see how he had that in his head and was able to bring it to the people of Richmond."
In addition to the millstones, Denny rolled out the sod and planted about 90% of the landscaping you’ll see in here, going into his own pocket in the beginning to cover the cost of a lot of it.
“All the pretty colorful stuff I put in. No drawings or plan, just whatever was in my head,” he recalled.
Now the city pays for the maintenance, watering, the replanting of annuals in the spring or mums in the fall. Evolving from a concrete alley to a public space to be enjoyed by all up and down the main drag in just a few years.
“It's hard to know how to feel about all that,” he said when discussing the upcoming 4th annual Millstone Festival. “What else could you ask for? It's a dream,” he said.
