Centennial project committee Chair Keith Fonstad hands Mayor Greg Dionne the Rotary Club's final installment. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

City projects

Prince Albert Rotary Club fulfills $200K commitment for Adventure Park

Jun 14, 2023 | 5:09 PM

The highly anticipated Rotary Adventure Park at Prince Albert’s Little Red River Park is tentatively set to open next month and in the meantime, all the final dollars and cents have been secured.

Representatives from the Prince Albert Rotary Club met with Mayor Greg Dionne at City Hall Wednesday for a special cheque presentation.

The total cost of the project was around $1.2 million and the Rotary Club committed to paying $200,000. The first installment of $100,000 was paid in June 2021. Centennial project committee chair Keith Fonstad acknowledged the excitement the project has brought.

“People asking when can we get in and use the park, and having to keep people out of the park in the spring, you know there’s an excitement and that’s just what we wanted to do for families,” he said.

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Planning for the project dates back to 2018 and in 2020 the Rotary Club entered into a partnership with the City to bring the Rotary Adventure Park to the Little Red River Park.

In addition to raising $200,000 through events such as Lobsterfest, Wine Premier, and online raffles, the Rotary Club also facilitated funds for the $1.2 million project by sourcing sponsorships, donations, and grants in partnership with the City.

“We raised way more money than we expected to through that support from the community and we were actually able to fundraise through COVID when other community organizations haven’t been able to do and because of that we were able to get the park done as early as we have now,” Fonstad said.

Fonstad also noted that as a result of the sponsorships, naming rights were offered to some of the pods at the park, signage, benches, and outdoor kitchen.

The adventure park at Little Red will be done in mid-July, the same time a city bus will start providing transit service there. (File Photo/paNOW Staff)

The Rotary Adventure Park features a climbing center, challenge area, elevated slides, and over 400 feet of zip lines.

There also will be a youth activity area with swings, upgraded picnic sites, a new picnic shelter, and expanded walking trails so there is something for everyone from toddlers to seniors. Mayor Greg Dionne applauded the Rotary Club for their work on this project, explaining it will help showcase one of the city’s jewels.

“With service clubs like this, it does make Prince Albert a better place because we can build more,” he said.

Dionne noted the City, as part of a trial run, will be offering a bus service to the park.

“It might be a little higher fee than the regular bus but that’s how much more the park has developed,” Dionne explained.

A tentative date for the park’s soft opening is July 17, and the City has indicated that an announcement for a grand opening will be made later this summer.

What’s next?

The Rotary Club’s annual lobster fest returns this Saturday to the Exhibition Centre, and there’s also an online raffle.

Fonstad explained their next goal is to replace the roofs of the existing shelters at Little Red River Park, both at the bottom of the sliding hill and at Cosmo Lodge.

“The idea is to have the same look and feel as the outdoor kitchen at the adventure park,” he said. “It’ll just provide a nice aesthetic feel to the park for anyone coming out there and hopefully give extra life to those shelters.”

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell