Getting Hooper Park ready for summer

A handful of volunteers turned out Saturday May 21 to help get Hooper Park ready for the summer by raking pine needles, cleaning trash out of the fire pits and sundry other tasks.

With only about ten people on hand, including two park board members, volunteer turnout for this year's clean-up was down by about a third, but those who did show up put in plenty of effort.

"It's important because it's our community," said Renee Lundberg, whose husband Ernie is on the park board. "This park gets a lot of use. One person can't do it. It's just a community thing... you gotta help out."

With so many visitors to Lincoln either staying at the park or attending events there, Rick Foreman agreed that the park cleanup helps beautify the community, boosts community spirit and helps support the local business.

Foreman, who with his wife Sue Murphy tries to volunteer every year, said it wouldn't have hurt to have seen more people turn out this year. "There are a lot of pine needles and pinecones."

They did get a hand from their grandson Cade Sampson, who helped pick up piles of pine needles with a four-wheeler and trailer. "That's one way to get him to help, is bring the four-wheeler," Foreman joked.

Looking ahead at the summer season, Lincoln Park Board President Nyle Howsmon said they may not get the park facilities fully open on schedule.

We're having problems in the bathroom," he said. "The toilet in the men's side froze and broke. It's on order. Then the chlorination system's not working, so they're working on that. I don't think we're going to get open probably until after Memorial Day."

While the main bathrooms may be down, there is now a permanent backup. Amid snow flurries Friday, May 20, the county installed a new vault toilet near the east ballfield. Since the new toilet isn't dependent on the park's water system water, it should provide a year-round facility for park visitors.

Throughout May the park saw some other noticeable changes.

On May 3, county workers brought in boulders to delineate the park's re-located west entrance and the parking area for the skate park. That same week, Denny Creech repaired the fences that were destroyed last December during a joyride by a local teen.

The small pavilion near the entrance to the park, which had developed a noticeable tilt to the east over the last year, also got a literal face lift thanks to Shane Smith with Bent Nail Construction

"It was about to fall over," said Howsmon.

Although they thought the posts of the structure were simply sinking into the ground, Smith said once they got to work, they found the bases were completely rotten.

"We cut them off, got the rot out and cut them all about the same height," Smith said. "We poured concrete underneath and around them."

Smith originally planned to donate his time to push the structure back upright but given the amount of work and the cost of the materials involved he could only afford to donate part of the cost. "I wish I could have done it all," he said.

Other improvements on tap for later this summer will come in the form of three concrete benches and a matching trash can courtesy of Doug and Laurie Richards and the Bob Purdy Softball Tournament.

Laurie Richards explained that they were able to fund the benches from money left over from the tournament entry fees.

"We always have left over funds that are put aside, for us to decide what to do with," Richards said. "When Alene Purdy did the tournament, she also had money left over in an account that was just sitting there."

Last year, Alene's daughter Patty closed the account and forwarded the money to Doug and Laurie.

"It's not like there's a lot every year, but between the money Alene and Patty had in their fund and with the money we've been saving, I talked to Nyle about us purchasing cement benches for the park out of the Bob Purdy Fund," Richards said

The benches should be installed in July at the Skate Park.

Richards said they want to carry on Purdy's goal of supporting the kids in the community. "He loved baseball, but if it was anything to do with kids, he would support it, and I think he would love that skate park, watching his ... great grandkids now, if he was still here."