Friday, March 29, 2024
36.0°F

Year brings addition of new city park

by LONNA BERNARD Contributing Writer
| March 31, 2021 1:00 AM

It is hard to believe that just 24 months ago the newly established East Hope City Park was a gravel encrusted, uneven strip of land hugging the railroad tracks that was used as little more than a glorified parking lot.

Now the city has the foundations of a beautiful outdoor park with stunning views of Lake Pend Oreille that will provide a wonderful gathering area near our city center supporting both our citizens and visitors alike. The city park plan includes an area with a veterans memorial wall and flagpole. Additionally, there will be paths for strolling through the grassy areas dotted with picnic tables and benches that allow visitors to enjoy the gardens or just lake gazing.

Specifically, for children, there will be a dedicated playground area and, for the young and young at heart, learning opportunities with historical markers and interactive displays featured throughout the park. The city formerly had no outdoor public areas for our residents to gather in for social interaction and to fully enjoy our scenic vistas of the lake - which the new park will provide.

In addition to the obvious benefits to all our local citizens and visitors, the park is located on the regional bike path which will give those travelers a beautiful respite along their journey and an opportunity to support our community and local businesses.

The park project is being funded almost exclusively through donations and grants. Brick pavers for walkways and veteran’s memorial plaques are two of the ways the park project is being funded. The Veteran’s Wall, which anchors the east end of the park, is very near competition and a dedication ceremony is planned by the city for Memorial Day Weekend. The veteran’s WALL OF HONOR pays tribute to men and women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces from our area and although many veterans plaques have already been ordered, space is still available. Additionally, the community set a goal to collect $10,000 for the playground equipment and that goal has almost been met!

While we’ve made tremendous progress, the effort to complete the park will require some more “green”. The city currently has a plant/topsoil fundraiser going on to raise the needed funding for the planned green areas of the park. Donors can adopt a particular plant or tree from our website or make a general donation to this effort.

In addition to the city park project, the city updated our transportation plan, a project that’s been a decade in the making, and we are in the final stages of our water improvement project which were hampered somewhat by last spring’s Strong Creek flooding and damage to our water intake lines. 

We invite and welcome all to visit our new city park in 2021 to see firsthand the progress we have made and enjoy this beautiful space.

Lonna Bernard is member of the East Hope City Council.