A local Boy Scout and chess player recently saw an opening at New Iberia City Park for a new kind of activity — one that involves kings, queens, knights and pawns.

Now, courtesy of his Eagle Scout Project, the park has three custom-made chess tables.

Devin Whipp is an upcoming New Iberia Senior High senior and a Boy Scout with Troop 133. He’s also in the chess club at school, and has been playing the game since elementary school, even winning the state championship in the fifth grade, said his father, Edwin Whipp.

060409 Devin Whipp, left, and Parks and Recreation Director Tony Migues play chess Wednesday on table Whipp made for park. Mary Catharine Martin / The Daily Iberian Advertisement

So after a conversation with his father, Devin came up with the idea to put in the tables at City Park.

“We thought it would add something else for people to come to the park for,” he said.

Devin installed two tables near the pool and one next to the playground.

And at 400 pounds for the tables, 150 pounds and another 80 in the ground for the seats, and more than 1,000 pounds of cement in the ground to keep the them stable, the tables hopefully will be around for quite a while.

Darryl Derouen, assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 133, said Eagle Scout projects are meant to teach Scouts about leadership.

“They have to come up with a project that will affect the community in one way or another,” he said.

They also have to do the fundraising, material gathering and work necessary to make the projects happen.

Fellow Boy Scouts and volunteers helped out with the tables’ creation, and Devin said Iberia Rental Service and Jeb Miller with Baldwin Redi-Mix also were very helpful.

Parks and Recreation Director Tony Migues said the chess pieces are to be kept inside the Cyr-Gates Community Center, where people will be able to use them for free, leaving an ID to ensure their return, during park hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.