(Okoboji)– A major announcement for the playscape project at the Dickinson County Nature Center. Community Relations Coordinator Amy Heibult says they’ve reached their $1.9 million fundraising goal…
“The Andrea Waitt Carlton Family Foundation has given us a grant for $112,000 which has allowed us to reach our fundraising goal for the Nature Playscape. We’re so excited to see this happen. The playscape is actually going to include the eight new learning areas in the current footprint of what we have at the nature center: a sand digging area, musical meadows, swing garden, there’s going to be a log climbing mat. A completely natural space that is going to increase our learning experiences and hopefully give multi-generational families an awesome place to enjoy their time.”
She says that leads the way to construction hopefully getting under way in the spring, with completion by next summer…
“We already have the construction documents in place, so the next step is to go through the bidding process for construction. Once we have those bids in hand we will have like a public hearing here at the Nature Center and then hopefully once we have a bid established and a company ready to go, we’re hoping to start construction in the spring.”
Heibult says it truly will be a community project with some in-kind contributions and volunteer work included…
“We also have some in-kind things here and some of our natural resource managers and their staff can do some of the skills and of course volunteers are helping with this project as well. This is truly a community project and we thank everybody for making this happen.”
Heibult says the nature playscape is coming to reality after about a year and-a-half of planning and fundraising.
