Rod Serling statue project in Binghamton park gets lift with $50K state grant

In "Walking Distance," an Oct 30, 1959, episode of "The Twilight Zone," a middle-aged advertising executive travels back in time to his childhood, arriving just a few miles away from his native town.

While his vehicle is serviced at a gas station, the man walks to "Homewood," where he grew up.

He strolls to the town park and there among the lush lawns and carousel, he witnesses his younger self carve his name into the bandstand, a reminder of where he came from and the distance, at least in years, he's traveled.

"And perhaps across his mind there will flit a little errant wish, that a man might not have to become old, never outgrow the parks and the merry-go-rounds of his youth," screenwriter Rod Serling wrote in the closing narration to the episode.

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Serling based "Walking Distance" on Recreation Park in Binghamton, his own hometown, and now a statue honoring "The Twilight Zone" creator and six-time Emmy award winner, is closer to becoming a reality thanks to a $50,000 grant to the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation.

The funding was announced by Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo Sunday during the closing moments of SerlingFest, an annual celebration of Serling's "life, words and imagination."

“This statue of Rod Serling is long overdue. It will stand in a park he enjoyed, near his boyhood home. I hope this is just the beginning of a much bigger celebration of Rod Serling; one of the most influential figures of our time," Lupardo said.

Serling graduated from Binghamton Central High School in 1943. While Serling is honored at the Binghamton City School District through the high school’s Rod Serling School of Fine Arts and the "Fifth Dimension" school curriculum, the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation has led the drive to honor the Television Academy Hall of Fame inductee with a permanent tribute.

The Serling Memorial Foundation said it will use the grant and additional fundraising to place the Serling statue in Recreation Park next year.

“Securing this grant will allow us to construct a permanent reminder that one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers called Binghamton home," said Nick Parisi, a Serling Foundation member. "Thank you to Assemblywoman Lupardo for your strong support and efforts to make this a reality."

Born Dec. 25, 1924, in Syracuse, Serling moved to Binghamton with his parents in 1926 when he was 2 years old. Serling grew up on the West Side at 67 Bennett Ave. The location provided recreational opportunities with its proximity to Recreation Park and the carousel, both donated by George F. Johnson.

“If you’re a big Serling fan, just to walk through Rec Park that you knew he walked through, and to see his home, is exciting,” foundation president Andrew Polak said in 2018.

Serling died in 1975 at just 50 years old.

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This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Grant boosts effort to place Rod Serling statue in Binghamton park