The park next to Prince’s Lakes Town Hall at 14 E. Lakeview Drive, Nineveh is pictured in August. Daily Journal file photo
This fall, Prince’s Lakes residents can attend a new fundraiser to raise money for the town’s parks.
The town’s park board is hosting its first-ever fundraiser festival dubbed the Party for the Parks Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 12 at the park next to town hall, 14 E. Lakeview Drive, Nineveh. All money raised during the event will go toward town park projects.
Admission is free, but attendees can make donations by paying to participate in certain activities at the festival. Right now the event roster includes a dunk tank, free throw contest, cornhole contest, pickleball skills contest, 50/50 drawings, a bounce house, a climbing wall and more.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to pay to send their friends to “jail” at the event. People in “jail” can either spend 30 minutes behind bars or get people they know to pledge money toward the fundraiser to bail them out.
Military vehicles will also be on display and there will be food trucks and a beer and wine garden.
The fundraiser will fund projects including an expansion of the walking trail near the town hall and building a small park at Robertson Shey near the softball diamonds, said Mike Gallamore, park board president. Extending the walking trail alone is expected to cost around $33,000, based on bids the town requested a year ago.
The board is also developing a parks master plan, which board members received feedback on in a public meeting last month. Feedback from residents suggests the board should work toward building a dog park, adding more and improving existing pickleball courts, and building shelters with picnic tables, Gallamore said.
However, it will take some time to build these things, as the parks board has, in the past, had a budget of $14,000, he said.
For example, Gallamore said the town bought wood-engineered mulch for the playground that cost a little over $2,000. For equipment, a playground with a slide and swing set can cost between a little over $500 to $2,000 or more, according to online prices. Gallamore said a swing set with two swings was over $7,000 and a slide was a comparable price when the town looked into it.
The town recently spent over $100,000 for new playground equipment and the basketball court.
Responses from a town survey “overwhelmingly” showed that residents want town parks to be enhanced. Party for the Parks will allow the community to help fund the future they want to see, Gallamore said.
“It gives the community an opportunity to support their parks, gives them an opportunity that they haven’t had before to actually get in and do something,” he said.
The event is hoped to become an annual celebration if everything goes well with the first event. The park board doesn’t have a fundraising goal in mind, and plans to use the first festival as a baseline, Gallamore said.
The event is also imagined as a way for neighbors to meet each other, which Gallamore said was an opportunity some residents were looking for.
“I had at least two young couples (at a previous public meeting) come up to me and say this is an opportunity for them to get out and meet people in the community that they wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to meet,” he said. “In the world we live in, it’s very rapid-paced. People are consumed with their work, their jobs, if they have a family — particularly young couples — those kids are involved in so many things. You’re at a very, very rapid pace, and you don’t get an opportunity to sit down and meet your neighbors and just build relationships. This gives us an opportunity to meet people and build those relationships.”
Since this is the first festival of its kind, Gallamore said he is looking forward to some of the activities and just being present at the celebration.
“I want to see the police officers get dunked and I’m really interested in, for me, the free throw shooting contest because I’m a big basketball guy and I want to see that …” he said. “I’m just excited to take in the atmosphere, that’s the biggest thing for me.”
People who are unable to attend the event but want to donate, can send or drop off a check to the town hall and specify that the money is a donation for park improvements. Money can also be contributed toward a specific project, by making a note of that with the donation.
Town officials are still in search of volunteers for the event. To volunteer, interested people can contact Gallamore at (317)-452-2562.
