HUMBOLDT — A total of $22,864 has been raised to upgrade the playground at Humboldt’s Bill Brecht Memorial Park – with $2,271 raised in one day at the Water Ridge Park playground grand opening.
“We considered that a huge success,” said Cathy Zimmerman with the Bill Brecht Playground Upgrade Committee.
“We are focusing this fall on applying for grants. Just through our fundraisers we’ve raised just over $20,000 since March, but playgrounds aren’t cheap – we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The Water Ridge Park playground grand opening on Sept. 10 had two fundraisers set up for the Bill Brecht playground project, with a barbeque sponsored by the Humboldt Co-op that raised $1,950, and a candy concession that raised an additional $321.
Zimmerman said the biggest fundraiser held so far was the truck show on Aug. 7 that brought in over $7,000 for the project through a 50/50 draw, concession, a sponsored barbeque, and donations.
Other past fundraisers included freeze, cotton candy, perogies, and ice cream sales; bottle drives and raffles.
A bottle drive on Sept. 18 will mark the last fundraiser the committee has planned before moving to a full-time grant focus, which is planned to continue until spring.
The fundraising portion of the project is set to take place over two years, pending donations and grants.
“There won’t be any active fundraisers for a little bit, but we’ve been really consistent with fundraisers up to this point,” Zimmerman said. “We’re feeling like the grants are the way we need to focus right now.”
Northland Recreation Supply has been selected to build the playground. The company is currently in the process of creating a 3D image of what the playground design will look like when completed, which Zimmerman said will be made public once available.
Zimmerman said that while many of the features are yet to be released to the public, there will be a zipline that includes areas specifically designed with mobility challenges in mind so residents with limited mobility can still use some of the equipment.
“It’s pretty exciting, the playground is phenomenal. We’re just down to little itty-bitty details,” she said. “There will be parts of the park anyone and everyone can enjoy.”
