It’s within this unassuming park where a tightknit community comes together. Like the rest of Bowling Green, the park is full of different ethnicities and cultures. During the late afternoon sun, residents return from work greeted by their families, some are the sole providers to those they call kin.
Keila Colorado has been living in the park for 20 years, having raised three children with her husband Alberto Colorado in the park.
“This is where we had my son's first birthday,” Colorado recalls.
Brandon Vincent usually spends his afternoon working on mopeds and small bikes, sometimes helping his neighbors with their mechanical issues. Vincent says he sometimes helps other park residents with small mechanical issues and does a little bit of everything.
Carpentry, cellular tower maintenance climbing, small engine work, electronics, and electrical are all part of his wheelhouse.
Vincent described the trailer park as a bright community of friendly people who are simply looking for a place in life.
“All kinds of people live here,” says Larry Wimpee.
A retired brick layer, Wimpee has been living in the park for 13 years and enjoys sitting under his awning covering his front porch enjoying the shade.
“There is a lot of kids here and we can play with them,” one of the park kids, Zuri Moreno Perez said.
Like many of the other kids in the park, Moreno Perez spends her afternoons running between the trailers and playing a wide variety of sports and riding bikes.
The residents of Kentucky Gardens Mobile Home Park do not have many options, after their trailer park was rezoned to allow the development of a condominium complex, their homes and day to day lives are at stake.
The residents of Kentucky Gardens Mobile Home Park do not have many options, the Barren Riverfront land that they call their home was rezoned in July of 2023. The trailer park owners, Eddie and Joy Hanks, hope to build higher-end condominiums in its place in a project called “Digs on the River.”
According to KRS Statue 110.438 any mobile home trailer that has a pitched roof cannot be moved.
Cindy Floyd says they have asked numerous times for a meeting with the owners of the park, Eddie and Joy Hanks, but they have not received one.
“I’m being forced out of a home that I own,” says Brandon Vincent.
Brand Vincent is not alone, many residents and families feel they are being treated unfairly and having their rights taken away.
According to Star Morse, the Hanks have been planning on developments of the trailer park for years.
Vincent says they were not given any warning upon purchase of his lot or notify new residents of future plans upon developing lot agreements.
Upon the rezoning, residents were given twelve months to find adequate housing and because most of the trailers in the park cannot be moved, residents must find a new living space.
Residents say that they have not been offered any compensation for the material value or monetary requirements needed to relocate.
“I find it simply unAmerican”
Vincent say they deserve compensation and want to work with the Hanks to find a solution but find it difficult to meet or communicate with them.
Over the sound of children laughing and the busy food court of Green Wood Mall, Hannah, Nora Knight, Kiela A Colorado, and Rebecca Violes are all residents of the Kentucky Gardens Trailer Park. They have met to discuss the difficult task of raising the money necessary to help relocate families within the park.
The community group has created a Go Fund Me to raise money, Morse leads a discussion about their methods for further funding.
They weigh the logistics and the feasibility of hosting a community fair including venders and paid admission.
On February 19th, the park gathers for a meeting, young and old lot owners gather around at the end of one of the streets, out front Hannah’s trailer. A table with hot coffee and papers are laid out next to a large piece of paper sitting on an easel.
Residents slowly trickle into the meeting unfolding their lawn chairs and sharing pleasantries. Because of the park's large Hispanic population, Leyda Becker, the Bowling Green International Community Leason translates for the Spanish speaking group.
Morse shares their ideas to raise money. The Go Fund Me had already started receiving donations, and a Facebook page was created where park residents have been sharing their stories. The deliberation continued into the night as people weighed their options and paved a path forward.
Not everyone shares the same determination, just across the park as the sun set, a resident was packs their belongings into the back of a truck with the help of a friend.
The efforts to help cushion the financial blow of relocation continue, but residents' mindsets could not forget the burden they felt.
“My kids are afraid, this is the only place they call home,” Keila Colorado says.
Colorado says Kentucky Gardens is where her children grew up, enjoy life at the park because of the sense of community, and acknowledges the safety she knows is not present at other parks in Bowling Green.
Having two kids with autism makes life a challenge Colorado says, and says her children face discrimination having heard the called “retarded” and “dumb.” With the family’s sole income coming from her husband Alberto Colorado, relocation is a huge undertaking.
Colorado sees the situation she was put in as unfair, and her kids ask her “Mama are they going to kick us out, where are we gonna live.”
“By doing this, they are throwing my kids dreams away,” Colorado says.
Colorado likened the park to a family, and says that the hanks are not just displacing, the individual residents, but tearing everyone apart. Living within the park allows her daughter to safely run and play away from the road.
“It’s hard to find a house right now,” Colorado says.
