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In August, well-known and heralded Legacy Greenscapes Executive Director Deborah Jackson stepped down from the position. 

In late October, a new Executive Director was announced. 

Powell County native Jayd Raines has been hired to the position. 

“I’m excited. [My family and I] spent a lot of time in Clark County…my family is really invested in the community,” he said. “Legacy Greenscapes has been an enormous success. It’s going to continue on…into the future.” 

Along with his wife and two children – one boy and one girl – he has settled into the Clark County community over the last few years.

His professional background includes spending over ten years at work in the Kentucky State park system, during which he was a recreation supervisor and park naturalist at various locations, typically working with many natural resources.

As was the case with many individuals in 2020, the effects of COVID-19 made an impact. 

“My wife, who is a family practice physician, made the determination…that she wanted to continue helping sick people,” Raines said. “I needed to deal with the kids, so from 2020 until last year, I basically played ‘Mr. Mom.’” 

However, it wasn’t long before his yearning to work outdoors and in a natural environment returned. 

“I started working at Legacy Grove in March of this year…becoming the Director at that time was nowhere close to my radar,” he said. “I wasn’t even a full-time employee. I was just here part-time. In the course of…nine to ten months I went from the low man on the totem pole…to the Director of Legacy Greenscapes. [It’s] pretty unexpected, but it’s funny how life just works.” 

Raines stated that he looks forward to continuing the journey left by Jackson. 

“She had a great sense of direction and where she wanted the park to go,” he said. “”[She] poured her absolute heart and soul into that park…so my hope is that whatever I do can begin to touch what she accomplished in her time there.” 

Thus far, the team at Legacy Greenscapes has continued to succeed. 

On Saturday, November 2, the first ever Hispanic Heritage Festival in Winchester was held when Legacy Grove Park and Community First Insurance teamed up to host Winchester: Ida de los Muertos Festival. 

The event is one of many – along with education programs and more – that the organization puts on yearly. 

From his professional background, Raines also hopes to add to Legacy Greenscapes’ list of events. 

“I would really like to expand more on natural resource focused programming,” he said. “I have some [ideas] in the works potentially to where we can collaborate more with the…[Clark County] Extension Office and other local entities and businesses to increase activities.” 

When asked if there was any information he wanted the public to know, Raines did not take long to respond. 

“The [Legacy Grove] park is open and welcome to anyone that wants to show up,” he said. “The community here of Winchester is the reason that park exists.”