“Riding the bench” is a tradition in basketball and other sports — it’s where substitutes await their chance to enter the game. The bench is also a friend to the tiring starter, who needs a breather before jumping back into the fray. Of course, it’s always more fun to be playing than riding the bench.

And until recently, if you were riding either of the benches at the ends of basketball courts at Silvermont, you quite possibly could wind up with splinters in your backside. Over time the wooden benches have weathered, to the point that some pieces have broken off. Jagged wood and rusted hardware were hardly a welcoming sight.

Friends of Silvermont noticed the state of the benches some time ago and recruited volunteers to replace the wood and hardware. On our deadfall day in mid-September, volunteer Michael Dexter-Smith completed the demolition work to remove the rotted seats and backs.

At the same time, volunteer Greg Colegrove designed the replacement wooden parts, identified and purchased all wood and hardware, and fabricated the seats and backs. Just before Pumpkin Fest began in October, FOS President Erik Rasmussen cleaned all the rust off the metal supports and primed and repainted them, and Greg installed the new seats and backs. The final results are a thing of beauty!

Friends of Silvermont paid for the materials, and volunteer labor got the bench refurbishment completed quickly. This little micro-project, carried out with the prior consent of Transylvania County Parks and Recreation, is a good example of how Friends of Silvermont supplements the work of the county in enhancing and maintaining Silvermont Park. Your donations, including attending Pumpkin Fest, make these projects possible.

So if you have to ride the bench, at least the ride will be more comfortable. But these benches are so nice, we’ve seen plenty of people using them even when there’s not a game on the courts.