Park Grand Opening Celebration!

Breaking News----

In case you hadn't heard, please mark you calendars for December 31 for the Park Grand Opening Celebration. It will be from 5 PM to midnight and we will be having fireworks at midnight to usher in the new year. It's going to be quite the party, with food, rides and games for the kids, and live music. Please plan to attend! It's going to be a LOT of fun!

Park Update #4

I know there's a lot of interest in the Park and when it will be opening... I would like to remind everyone that about a year ago I noted that the dramatic progress would take place at the beginning of the project, while the little things (which are just as important) come later and take up a lot of time.

Right now, we're waiting for the grass to grow.

I know, it sounds like the punch line of a very bad joke. But there it is.

The park is almost completely covered with grass. This is important because it stabilizes the slopes of the ponds and hills that are in the park, it keeps things looking neat and trim, and it provides a clean, safe, and attractive place to play. The problem is - the grass seed was applied when the very dry spell was in effect, and the seed did not germinate. This is both good and bad - if it had germinated and started to grow before the dry spell, we may have had an even more difficult time getting turf establishment because the dry conditions could have killed off the tender young plants. Now that we're getting back into a more normal weather pattern, we can expect good growth. The concern is getting ahead of the very cold weather (in December/January) with the potential for freezing these tender plants.

The concern also lies in the fact that it should have all been done by now. The contractor has not performed as we would have hoped. But we are working some solutions - involving installation of sod in key, heavily-trafficked locations - that will hopefully allow for some limited use in the near future. We won't know for sure about the grass situation until next spring, when full turf establishment is possible.

Depending on what happens with the sodding in specific areas, we may be able to open some areas of the park earlier. But even that's an open question, because we don't want to let people out into some areas while limiting them in others.

Long story short - stay tuned! It's coming...