Members of the Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation Commission said they’re excited about the progress they’re seeing with renovations to Basin Spring Park.
“If you haven’t driven past Basin Park, I think it’s a good thing to look at and see what we’ve been accomplishing down there and what you voted for to happen,” chair Mark Ingram said during the parks commission’s monthly meeting held Tuesday, Feb. 25. “If you can’t see it from the street, look up because the staircase … all the work they’ve done up to the gazebo, up above, that looks fantastic.”
Parks director Sam Dudley went over with commissioners the ongoing work and changes to original plans, including resurfacing the entire park, thanks to recent financial contributions from the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission and from Eureka Springs Preservation Society.
“We got additional funding for Basin Park and that’s sort of the big highlight,” Dudley told commissioners. “In addition to the Banks Family Foundation Grant, we got an additional $54,000 from CAPC and another $21,000 from Eureka Springs Preservation Society.
“So, a big shout-out to both of those organizations. So far, that means we’ve raised about $150,000 for enhancements to the park for this year. So, the park better look good.”
Dudley told commissioners that six large trees will be planted at the park, four along the front to replace other trees and two on either side of the fountain, which has been removed to repair a failing foundation.
“It’s a pretty big project,” he said. “We’re talking somewhere around $15,000 to $20,000 for all the trees.”
Before the fountain is replaced it will be sandblasted and powder coated while plumbing and electric under the fountain will also be redone, Dudley said.
“Then we’ve got the resurfacing of the plaza,” he said. “We’re going to redo the whole thing with a new layer of stamped concrete. So, it will be very even. No more, ‘woah,’ as you’re walking through the park. It’s going to look really nice.”
Renovation of the stairway from the gazebo to the upper walkway is currently underway as well, Dudley said.
Commissioners asked Dudley about changes to the plans since things like updating the park’s surface weren’t necessarily part of the original scope of the refurbishing.
“So, we went into this thinking we were going to have to dig out the whole center of the park all the way down to the subsurface level, to the tunnels underneath,” Dudley said. “It turns out when we got done with deconstructing the fountain and we found out the reason why it was sinking was because there was no footer underneath it.
“It was just stone sitting on top of sand and dirt and there was no real structure to hold it up. So, the water that was getting underneath the fountain was kind of slowly eating away at that stuff underneath, which obviously that’s why it was kind of tilting forward. The whole thing wasn’t sinking, it was more the nose of it. Once we figured that out we were like, well, we’ve got this equipment here, we’ve got the funding. What else can we do?”
Part of the plan put together by McClelland Engineering in the past couple of years as far as renovations to the park included resurfacing, Dudley told commissioners.
“Part of it was resurfacing the whole plaza,” he said. “So, we decided, let’s switch gears. We got with [Eureka Springs Historic District Commission], they approved it, and here we are.”
In addition, utilities are being revamped in the park, which now include hydrants for watering plants and electrical boxes in locations that are more convenient when electricity is needed, Dudley said, adding that each lamp post also currently has an electrical outlet.
“It’s still going to be Basin Park, but it’s going to look totally different here in a couple of months, at the most,” he said.
TRAIL UPDATES
In an effort to make things clearer for a “trail system that was built over 30 years ago,” Dudley asked commissioners to approve some name changes to various trails.
“I don’t know how familiar you guys are with the trails, but once again, we’re just trying to make some sense out of a trail system that’s pretty hectic,” Dudley said. “I’ll say that, a little confusing. We get a lot of people get lost, especially in certain areas.
“So we’re just trying to make it so we can hopefully direct people a little easier so they know where to go.”
The unanimous vote to relabel the trails included Beacham West Trail is now Access Road, Fuller Trail is now Beacham Trail, Shoreline Trail is now Fuller Trail, a segment of Twin Knobs Trail is now Heartbreaker Hill, the Twin Knobs spur to the upper Bench Loop becomes Powder House Trail and another section of Twin Knobs Trail is now Hager Hollow, named after longtime parks commissioner Ruth Hager.
BASEBALL AROUND CORNER
Dudley told commissioners that the baseball field at Lake Leatherwood, which will host the Eureka Springs High School baseball team for the first time in many years, continues to be prepared for the first home game of the season on March 14.
“The big thing happening at Leatherwood is the baseball field,” he said. “The first [home] game is going to be [March 14] and it should be super fun.”
The Highlanders open the season March 10 at Jasper before hosting Decatur in a conference doubleheader at Lake Leatherwood beginning at 4 p.m. on March 14.
“We’re playing Decatur, which was a team that Coach Steve said … he thought we could definitely win,” Dudley said. “… You don’t want to open up the new field after 20 years and lose the game.”
Commissioners said they were looking forward to the season.
“I think it would be fun to go out there and do that first game,” Ingram said.
Other home games are March 17 against Lifeway Christian, March 31 against Ozark Catholic, April 8 against Lead Hill and April 21 against Ozark Mountain.
All home games, with the exception of the April 8 game against Lead Hill, are conference doubleheaders. Games begin at 4 p.m.
NEW WORKSHOP APPROVED
The commission also approved spending “up to $20,000” to build a new workshop for Lake Leatherwood to help store equipment.
