Menomonie dedicates recreation facility
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:14 AM CDT
Menomonie's newest recreational venture -- Menomonie skatepark -- was dedicated at a grand opening Saturday at Phelan Park.
Menomonie Recreation Director Gary Barnett said the last grand opening of a recreational facility in the city was in 1997, when the Wakanda Water Park opened.
Barnett said that "now we have another quality recreational offering in Menomonie." He noted that people utilize the skatepark from a wide geographical area.
He stressed that the "idea of a park for skateboarders is not well-accepted" in some other communities, but it was the kids who spearheaded the effort in Menomonie.
Barnett said that the process got underway back in 1999 when community leaders and the kids held six informational meetings to gain input from the community on the design, location and fund-raising plans.
"The kids have part ownership in the process," Barnett said. He specifically mentioned that Justin Herman, Derrick Koehler, Dustin Nelson, Travis Han and Ryan Baldwin provided input from design to construction of the project.
Others recognized for their efforts were former recreation director Phil Fieber, Garty Gust and Charlie Jones from Cedar Corporation, Bruce Heath and the Menomonie Street Department, Brian Shefchik and Shefchik Builders, Mayor Dennis Kropp and members of the City Council, which contributed $40,000 to the project.
Mayor Kropp, who spearheaded the fundraising effort, said that the park cost just over $100,000 to build, including $40,000 from the city and $60,000 from the community via fundraising.
"Area service clubs, principally the Optimist Club, which is a 'friend of youth,' raised tens of thousands of dollars for the project," Kropp said.
Kropp had praise for Shefchik Buildings, which had to start from scratch on the project. "Brian and his crew had never built a skatepark before, and they did a wonderful job, as you can see."
Barnett said that the project received a $14,000 grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation. Hawk is a professional skateboarder from California who supports concrete skateboard parks.
Barnett noted that the Tony Hawk Foundation usually provides $5,000 grants for skatepark construction, but "we received one of the larger grants."
Linda McIntyre, executive director of the Menomonie Area Chamber of Commerce, said that many things make up a community -- families of all different sizes and backgrounds, business and industry of all kinds, education and government, service clubs and volunteers.
"The same things that make up a community helped create this skatepark and will give it life," she said.
The park will provide scenes of "children laughing with delight at the challenges the park presents, making new friends, learning new skills and making an occasional trip to the emergency room."
She congratulated everyone who made the park happen.
They included "our mayor, who has a passion for children and providing opportunities for them to enjoy their childhood years, we have a strong business community that cares about making this a great place to live and raise families and gives back every day, the city workers in streets and parks who keep our public spaces safe and looking great, a recreation department that works hard to provide programs for children and adults that enhance our lives, our service clubs and volunteers who raised money for this project and many others."
"To the young people who have this new place to build new skills, learn new thrills, a place to make new friends and a place that will provide fond childhood memories, you can show your appreciation for this new skatepark by enjoying it responsibly and helping in whatever way you can to keep it clean and make it safe," McIntyre concluded.
Business person Henry Schwartz thanked the young people for helping plan and raise funds for the facility.
"This is our park, let's enjoy it and keep it clean," Schwartz said.
The program concluded with a traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony. |
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