The Ribbon has been cut—let there be shade!

After a year of planning, fundraising, meeting with officials, and keeping momentum up, the Friends of the City Park were thrilled to finally host the official ribbon cutting for the shade structures at City Park in Soda Springs.

Among those in attendance were representatives of many of the sponsors, such as the Idaho Real Estate Association, Advantage Plus Federal Credit Union, the city of Soda Springs, Broulims, and others.  The majority of the crowd was made up of parents and their children, who waited eagerly to get back to playing, this time in the shade.

Alana Burns, member of the Friends of the Park, welcomed attendees to the ribbon cutting.  “It’s going to be a little bit noisy,” Burns said, “but we’re in a playground, so I’m sure you understand.  We’re going to let the kids keep playing while we say a few things.”

“Thanks for coming out you guys,” Burns continued.  “We really appreciate it.  This has been a year in the making, and we are all so excited to be here.  So put your hands together if you like having fun in playgrounds…and then put your hands together if you like doing that in the shade!”

“Some people know one on one how this project originated, but let me tell everyone else.  Laura [Lind] and a team of women that I got to be a part of had a special vision to build this playground that was open to all abilities.  It has been such a wonderful asset to our community over the last eight years, but it has been really hot.  About a year ago, I got an email from the Idaho Realtors Association that said they had a grant opportunity—they like to develop neighborhoods and communities and generously give back to the people they serve.  And so as I realtor I thought ‘oh my gosh, this is my chance.  Who doesn’t want free money for their community?’  Let’s come up with a project.  And as I thought about things that Soda Springs would benefit from, obviously my heart is in this playground, because I was digging holes in this ground eight years ago where my children come and play several times a week.”

“And so in my naïve nature I thought this $5000 grant could buy us shade covers. But I was wrong!  This project turned out to be a lot more expensive than that, but it never would have started if I hadn’t gotten that email from the Idaho Realtors Association.  That grant kickstarted this idea for the project, and we’ve had so much support from the community it’s been astounding.  Not only did we reach our goal of $45,000 to pay for the shade covers, but we actually raised around $15,000 more than our established budget.  And with that, we have purchased the four barbeque grills that you see here, all of these commercial grade picnic tables, six new trees, and in the works there is vending machine on the way so that we can establish a self-sustaining maintenance fund so that people in the park don’t have to cross the busy highway.”

Some other additions to the park were mentioned. “Inside the playground, you’ll see the fruits of some busy artists’ work—there are murals of the geyser, artwork on the teepee, and more.  We couldn’t have done this without everyone!”

Friends president Laura Lind also thanked everyone for coming out to the event, and mentioned how many of the people on hand at the ribbon cutting were people she knew from spending time at the park, and appreciated the accessible nature of it.  “It has been so fun to see this playground used based on the vision we originally had when we wanted to establish an  all-abilities park.  There are kids who come to use the therapeutic swings, people who come in with wheelchairs…it has been fun to see people of all abilities coming in, and from a lot of places.  We get busses coming through from Lava, Montpelier, and elsewhere.  They all come here to play as part of the end of school celebration, which is interesting.  They love it here like we do.  We’ve met people on their way to Yellowstone from all over the world who have stopped here, and that’s been really fun!”

“One of the visions we had was not just inclusive play, but also bringing business to our downtown, which we are also seeing,” Lind said.

Broulim’s sponsored the food for the event, and was on hand to celebrate the opening.

Other speakers for the afternoon included Advantage Plus FCU CEO Brent Neibaur, who is from Bancroft, City Councilmember Paul Gritton, Julie Anglesey from the Idaho Realtor’s Association, and Senator Mark Harris.  After the playground was officially opened and the ribbon cut, play commenced, as it hopefully will for years to come.