The rededication of Cameron Park on Thursday will feature a bagpiper, an opera singer, a pair of long-forgotten plaques and a rare reunion of Cameron descendants.

The city’s Cameron Park Centennial Committee will host the ceremony at 10:30 a.m. at Proctor Springs, near Herring Avenue and Cameron Park Drive.

The event harks back to the original dedication ceremony of Proctor Springs on May 27, 1910, just days after the Cameron family announced its gift to the city.

Centennial committee co-chairwoman Kay Olson said speakers will sketch the history of the park, from its Indian and pioneer days to the present.

The Cameron Park centennial parade passes the entrance to the park on May 1. The rededication ceremony will be at Proctor Springs at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald

Plaques unveiled

Two bronze plaques that once adorned the gates of Cameron Park will be unveiled in their new location at the recently renovated Proctor Springs. The plaques have been in city storage for decades.

A local bagpiper will play tunes in honor of the Scottish immigrant William Cameron, after whom the park is named.

One song will be “The March of the Cameron Men.”

Bass opera singer Keron Jackson, a Baylor University alumnus, will sing at the event.

Descendants of the far-flung Cameron family are planning to travel here from places such as Houston and Buffalo, N.Y.

They will get a trolley bus tour of Waco and will be feted at a noon luncheon at the Phoenix Ballroom in downtown Waco.

All but a few of the $30 tickets for the luncheon had been sold as of Tuesday, Olson said.

The luncheon will feature speakers and a book-signing by Mark Firmin, author of “William Cameron Park: A Centennial History.”

jbsmith@wacotrib.com

757-5752