City stages grand opening of Legacy Park improvements

By Lethbridge Herald on August 10, 2022.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Families frolic at the playground at Legacy Park on Wednesday during opening ceremonies for the second and final phase of the massive northside park.

Al Beeber – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

A space conceived in the early 2000s when Bob Tarleck was mayor was celebrated Wednesday when Phase 2 of Legacy Park officially opened.

A ceremony at the park pavilion attracted a strong crowd of people to hear speeches, get a free ice cream cone and experience Legacy Park.

The amenities of the park include the pavilion as well as picnic shelter, spray park, and discovery playground.

Chris Witkowski, the City’s parks planning manager who emceed the opening, said this is the crowning achievement of his career.

Witkowski told the crowd it’s been an integral part of his life for the last eight years and offered thanks to everyone who played a role in the park’s development, including the public and users.

“There’s been some highs with this park, there’s been some lows with this park and it has not felt like a whole lot of in between,” he told the audience.

“But I can tell you for sure today is a high because today is the fulfillment of a vision that we started. We started with this space about five years ago. With this park, we started back in 2009 so this is really a truly great accomplishment today,” said Witkowski.

The spray park, at 550 square metres, is the largest one in Lethbridge, featuring three circular smash zones, a family area and an area for kids ages 5-12. The federal Canada Community Building Fund contributed $947,000 toward construction of the park.

The provincial government, through its Municipal Sustainability Initiative, provided $4,050,000 in funding for the pavilion and plaza at the north end of the park.

Dignitaries who gave brief addresses included Lethbridge MP Rachael Thomas, Lethbridge East MLA Nathan Neudorf and city mayor Blaine Hyggen.

Park blessing was done by elder Tom Little Bear, who commended the work the City does for the community, Legacy Park being an example.

“This started off as an idea,” he recalled with people sitting around a conference table. They decided they needed to expand their discussions with a spray park advisory committee from members of the community.

He said City staff just had a budget and an imagination and community members came back with ideas “that just blew me away.”

Three years ago on Aug. 15, stakeholder engagement was staged for eight hours under a tent at a nearby tower in a bare field and more than 200 kids and parents came out to offer ideas for what a new playground should look like.

“The result was phenomenal, it’s those community members that made the idea the vision. And vision is what we have here today,” Witkowski said.

Thomas said the park’s completion has brought together the community and going forward it’s purpose is to continue that relationship.

“It is built around values such as community and relationship building, values like inclusivity and giving people a place of belonging, a value of health and wellbeing,” as well as the values of “celebrating and enjoying the natural beauty the world has to offer. And a value of fun, something we forget about sometimes.”

Neudorf told the crowd about the great collaboration that made the park a success and thanked everyone involved in the project, singling out the staff who maintain the park.

“It does take a community to put something like this together,” said Neudorf, adding it was great to see the playground full.

Hyggen recalled how in 2012 a company was selected to design and tender documents for the 2,200 hectare park. In June 2014, a contest was staged to help name it and that name was chosen in February 2015.

“Phase 1 was completed in 2018 and today we celebrate the completion of the second and final stage,” said the mayor, adding the park has been hugely anticipated.

“The original concept of this park started way back when Bob Tarleck was mayor,” he added thanking past council members for their advocacy over the years.

“We’re finally able to see this finished park today,” said the mayor, reiterating the collaboration among governments over the years.

The mayor said the park was needed for and deserved by north Lethbridge.

“This has just been an amazing park that can be enjoyed by many people for years to come,” added the mayor.

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