RFL plans park for play and picnics

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

The first steps toward making a Red Feather Lakes Community Park came in September when a nearly 4-acre parcel of land in the village was mowed and unfenced. The organizers say it is currently open for casual use, although there will likely be an official opening sometime in spring.

Eunice Michalka, representing the local Lions Club and coordinator for park planning and maintenance, said the club made a lease agreement at $1 per year for the property east of Hiawatha Lake and adjacent to the Red Feather Lakes Road with the Mary Ross Quaintance Trust. There is ample parking for the site north off Beebe Road, which is located across from Ramona Lake just south of the village center.

Susan Bradley, on behalf of the Quaintance family, said it is an honor and a privilege to have the land used for a park that will benefit the entire community, according to Michalka.

The idea of a park has been on the Mountain Lions' agenda for some time, Michalka said, but the proposal came together when the Lions started talking to other volunteer groups in the area about how to make it a community effort, not just a Lions' initiative. Their goal, she said, is to keep it low-budget and low-maintenance with everyone pitching in to help.

In addition to the Lions, volunteers from Morning Star Church, Chapel in the Pines, the Volunteer Fire Department, Red Feather Lakes Library and interested neighbors have offered their time to create and maintain the park. Area churches are planning to use the park for joint Easter sunrise services.

Michalka said Fox Acres, a local golf club and residential development, donated the mowing. Apex Rooter and Plumbing will soon locate a port-a-let at the park. The Lions Club provided appropriate insurance through a special program it has for parks, and a local homeowner on a tournament-level horseshoe team wants to build a horseshoe pit for league competitions.

There will probably be at least one picnic table initially, Michalka said, but if it's possible to get grants for more amenities, then perhaps a covered eating or gathering place could be built in the future. She said the county already has the site plans, but the review process may take as long as eight months before a permit can be issued for infrastructure development.

The land is sunken and was used for a fish hatchery in the 1920s, according to Dennis Frydendall. He said the hatchery was already closed when he arrived in the early 1960s, and the land has occasionally been used as a horse pasture since that time.