Labor Day weekend is usually a melancholy experience. The end of another summer and here we go … sweaters and coats will be required at Friday Night Lights, Street Fair will descend and recede, pumpkins emerge and then all of a sudden it’s the holiday season.
But not this year. I was able to engineer a first — hopefully annual — grandson golf outing with the three that enjoy that and then take in a flag football contest of the one who doesn’t. That would normally be a remarkable weekend on its own. But Monday morning was, in its own way, at least equally enjoyable: I took my inaugural bike ride on the extended Interurban Trail up to the new Lancaster Park.
It was sometime pre-Covid. I could research the exact year — 2018? — but it doesn’t matter, other than it’s been at least six years that Roger Thornton bent my ear about an idea he had: Develop the old and unused Lancaster School property into a city park built around a four-diamond baseball complex that would host weekend tournaments. Recognizing the need for a city park north of the bridge and the economic impact such tournaments would have, I agreed to help him pursue it. I introduced him to then city councilman John Whicker who also agreed to lend his support. We three — mostly Roger — raised some initial financial pledges and we went to the city.
You would think such a proposal might be a no-brainer but we ran into a buzz saw. There’s no point in going into the details other than saying we got some bad procedural advice. Ultimately, the terrain proved unfriendly to baseball diamonds and the park board, with the ultimate hammer, said “no, thanks.”
However, Brandy Fiechter, then serving as associate director, saw value in the general concept. After being elevated to the park department’s director’s position in December 2020, she immediately began to pursue an adjusted project with now Mayor Whicker’s blessing and support, as well as the support of Thornton who had successfully ran for city council with a need for some type of city park in the north district one of his issues. Few fully know that with Fiechter’s renewed efforts, he revisited the pledges he’d received for the initial project. Brandy also aggressively sought state and national grants and other local donations. So the cost for the trail and the park was a little over $2 million, but local taxpayers footed less than $60,000 of that.
Might be the bargain of the century.
The result is — well, go see for yourself. Better yet, walk or ride north on the trail. You can start at the front gate of the state park, or park at Dutch Mill Landing and begin there, or from Lowe’s or any point in between. Once arrived, circle the park on the half-mile paved track, and perhaps stop for a rest at the pavilion.
A sunny and comfortable Labor Day morning found two families on the track, another on the disc golf course and three families in the playground. I had pedaled up to the N-B office Monday morning to produce Tuesday’s Opinion Page and then headed north from there, passing no less than a dozen other walkers/bikers/joggers there and back. A bonus: a light but brisk northeast wind made the going up a bit of a challenge but the return trip was literally a breeze.
That phrase cannot be used as to getting this wonderful new amenity for the city and county finished. Despite being initially scorned — not too strong of a word — Thornton continued to champion the idea even without his ball diamonds. But it wouldn’t have happened without Brandy Fiechter, who convinced her board to tag along and overcame a number of challenges along the way, including funding and crazy bids and materiel and Covid. But perseverance wins again.
Between the grandkids and the grand ride, it was enough take the melancholy out of the end of another summer.
miller@news-banner.com
