2021-22 Park News and Updates
What we accomplished this year!
We maintained our stuff, built for the future, celebrated life, and had fun.
Drawing from the success at the September 11, 2021 concert at the park that celebrated the end of isolation due to Covid and which raised funds towards a new play structure, the board enthusiastically began working on a fun year of social activities, work projects and routine maintenance for our beloved park.
We were able to fully reinstate our yearly social calendar of events, including:
Holiday Caroling, Cookie Exchange and Craft Fair
Spring Work Party
Easter Egg Hunt
Spring Fling FIESTA with Kids’ (and adults’) Open Mic
Summer Camp Out at the park
our Second Annual Summer Shindig concert featuring 4 local musical acts (with Galactic Snowballs and tie-dyeing)
Chili Cook-off.
Completed Projects in 2022:
Spring and Late Summer Work Days engaged many volunteers to install wood chips to the play areas, prune trees, whack weeds, tend the flower bed around the redbud tree, and refill the sandbox.
Bike Repair Stand and Pump Track Sign installed, using $3,800 grant from Buncombe County Parks and Recreation (written by Lorrin Brown in 2021). Jenny Fares of Sound Mind Creative designed all new signs you see around the park; smaller signs installed by Jenny and Sarah. The large sign by the pump track was installed by Josh, as was the bike repair stand. The intention of these items is to improve safety and awareness of biking for park users. There is currently a wooden post installed next to the sign. If you would like to take some hooks and screw them into the post we can place helmets and bike gear on the post for people to use if they forget their safety equipment at home.
Pump track work is on-going, thanks to our crew of junior park helpers!
In December 2021 the jump line in the woods behind the pump track was restored with 5 dump truck loads of new dirt and now includes several new and taller tabletop jumps.
We sold socks in December of 2021, and people really liked them!
Pavilion Electrical Upgrades. We hired a licensed electrician who ran conduit from the electrical pole over to the back left post of the pavilion and installed an outdoor outlet box with 4 electrical outlets inside a cover. He also installed outlets higher up the post, engaged with a switch below that can be used to turn on+off the string of Edison bulbs hanging inside the pavilion. This improves safety for park users.
Launched our new website in April. Thank you to Jenny at Sound Mind for all her hard work making it happen!
Drinking fountain improvements. In spring of 2022, our water fountain was leaking! Every fall park board members of the past needed to remember to turn off the water to the drinking fountain and drain the copper pipe running up from the ground to the spout to prevent damage to the pipe. Well, we forgot! And it sprang a leak after freezing the pipe. Ken and Mike from Carolina Water donated their time and tools to fix the leak, install a new push button assembly and restore service to the water fountain. They also installed a big box underground so that we can have easier access to the on/off valve for the water fountain (it was a smaller white pipe that always filled up with gravel and was difficult to use). Moreover, Carolina Water Service gave the park a credit to make up for the cost of the water during the leak. Thanks, guys!
Carolina Water Service donates $599 (cost of yearly water service) for 2022-23. Gary Peacock at CWS was in contact with the park in August 2022 to let us know they want to donate a yearly credit to the park to cover the cost of water for the park. Yay! Thank you, again, CWS!
Mud Kitchen built on-site next to climbing area. Moses Soto and Ryan Graves built the mud kitchen from donated pallets in August 2022, and the kids painted it at the late summer work day. A ribbon-cutting was held at the Summer Shindig to celebrate this creative addition to our park. So far, kids of all ages are having fun playing with the kitchen!
Received $6,000 grant to install ADA accessible swing, from Buncombe County Parks and Rec (written by Natalie and Natasha). By next year, 2023, our park should have an accessible swing as part of our play equipment. Reach out if you would like to help!
Soccer goals obtained and placed near orchard field.
Summer Shindig Fundraisers build community. Through the generosity of our community over the past 2 years of fundraising, the park board has been able to reserve $11,000 for new play equipment, and we aim to have it installed in the next few years, beginning with swings.
Children and adults participated in outside camps and programs at our park. West Asheville Playschool, Little Bellas, Mars Hill Cycling Camp, Dirt Skrrts, Kids CycleClub and others have gathered to share skills and build friendships.
The park board created a wedding rental policy this year, which can be accessed on the Rental page of our website.
The park is the heart of our neighborhood. It’s where we hold graduation, retirement, and birthday celebrations; where we introduce our infants to neighbors and friends; where we meet up before or after a bike ride; it is where some of us got married, held rehearsal dinners, or celebrated our anniversaries.
This work helps the park continue to be a place for us to connect and build community.
Thank you for trusting us to serve! Park board volunteers serve for 1 year, and they are elected at the Chili Cook-off each October. The board members for October 2021 - October 2022 were:
Natasha Atwood (special projects)
Josh Coaplen (maintenance coordinator)
Natalie Dorsey (special projects)
Jenny Fares (special projects, music and design)
Bille Graves (treasurer)
Sarah Pruett Soufl (board meeting coordinator and main contact)
Amber Soto (event coordinator)
Justin Thorn (special projects)
Cecile Wight (pavilion rental coordinator, social media).