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MENTONE - Without grant funding, the town of Mentone would have had to have a lot of chicken barbecues to raise money for the improvements that were made to Mentzer Park.
Fortunately, the town’s park improvement project did receive grant funding and Thursday the community was able to celebrate the result with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Mentone Town Council President Jill Gross welcomed everyone for attending the event at the park’s new pavilion, saying it took a lot of hard work and many hours to make the pavilion and updated park a reality.
“Today is more than just a ribbon-cutting. It’s time to recognize what can be done when several organizations work together. We have had a lot of people and we’re so lucky to have everyone,” she said. “We have new walkways. We have upgraded playground equipment. We have an updated basketball court and this beautiful new pavilion, which is not complete but it soon will be.”
Gross said they could not have been possible without the support of many partners and help from the community with their insights. On behalf of the town council and herself, she thanked the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA), the K21 Health Foundation and the Kosciusko County Community Foundation for the Go Forward! initiative. She thanked Olivia Nix, from the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG); Amy Roe, Kosciusko County community coordinator; and contractors Noah Rienks and Josh Matthews from TRG (The Rienks Group), Granger.
“This could not have come together without (three) very special people, and that is Amanda (Yaprak), our town clerk-treasurer, and Josh (Shepherd), our utility superintendent, and Corbin (Hudson), his assistant,” Gross stated. “These three people have been the project managers behind the scenes. This has not been a simple project at all. Or easy. Or quick. I want to give them a special thanks for going above and beyond their every day duties to help get this project completed.”
She stressed the park is for the “whole” community and they are already discussing what’s next for Mentzer Park.
Kosciusko County Commissioner Cary Groninger said it was hard to believe in November, it’ll be four years since the county was awarded the OCRA grant to start taking part in the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program (HELP). Shortly after that, the county was able to find Roe and start the HELP process with originally four communities in the county, and then eventually down to three.
“Walked them through a lot of different planning sessions, and just really understanding what the community really wanted to see and it’s just exciting to see all the work that has went into this,” Groninger said. “I know it’s been a long time coming. It’s been a lot of effort by a lot of people.”
He said he was excited to see something like the park improvements be added to the town of Mentone as he considers it his hometown.
“Along the way, it’s been brought up, it’s not been easy. It seems like there was always a new flaming hoop that we were having to jump through,” Groninger said. “... (I’m) just excited to see what we’ve been able to create here. Just appreciate everybody coming out today and all the hard work by the community members here to make this happen.”
Lindsey Hammond, OCRA northeast community liaison, said, “In 2021, Kosciusko County was named as a Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program participant and was one of the first communities to go through the yearlong program in 2022. The program supports communities directly by building capacity, creating peer network between communities, developing strategic investment plans and providing access to set-aside funding.”
The HELP ultimately sought to assist communities in building long-term capacity, developing attainable projects and leaving a legacy in the community, she said.
“Now, we are here today to celebrate the completion of a successful Kosciusko County HELP project,” Hammond stated. “Through Kosciusko County’s HELP designation, the town of Mentone earned a grant to assist the community in transforming Mentzer Park.”
She said the project included a brand-new pavilion with bathrooms and a concession area, a resurfaced basketball court, a repaved walking path connecting all amenities and upgraded playground equipment with ADA-accessible ground cover.
“This project exemplifies the purpose of the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program, as well as OCRA’s overall mission to help rural communities thrive and improve quality of life for their communities,” Hammond stated, congratulating the town and its partners on the project.
Rita Price Simpson, Mentone Chamber of Commerce, said when Roe first told her about the project, she thought it would be a big project and hoped many people from the community would be involved and they have been.
“One of the things that came to mind to me immediately when I came down here and I saw everything happening, I thought, ‘Do you know how many chicken barbecues we would have to do to get this kind of money?’ More than we could have ever done in a lifetime! So, that’s why these grants are so important to us, and that’s why a small town can really make such a difference by having that money,” Simpson said. “It does take a lot of extra work on our county people, as well as our local people, and I want to thank them publicly for all of the hard work they put in this process.”
If someone looks around the park, she said one might notice that there’s a few things that are still needed, like picnic tables, benches, trash cans and other things. She challenged everyone to help raise the money to get those things done, adding the Chamber will get involved with that as well.
“One thing about this little community, we have a lot of pride. And, over the course of the fact that I’ve been here for so many years, I understand what that pride means more than anything. We have a love of community and we want to do right by our people,” she said.
Simpson noted there will be a contest to name the new pavilion.
People attending Thursday’s celebration were invited by Roe to submit a name or two for consideration of naming the pavilion. Yaprak said the pavilion naming contest will go until Oct. 15. Roe said the town council will announce a name at their November meeting.
“So there’s no rules. There are some interesting names that have been submitted already, but (the council) gets the final choice,” Roe said, adding there’s also sponsorship opportunities. “Mentone is one of the small communities that has the opportunity to be part of what you guys probably have heard of as the CAP (Community Amenities Program) grant program. So not only are there some needs to finish this pavilion, but they would like to start officially collecting money for the next phase so they can put an application in for these potential dreams.”
CAP is a $5 million grant initiative designed to fund transformational public projects that enhance quality of life in towns across Kosciusko County. It was established through the Orthopedic Industry Retention Initiative (OIRI) and managed by the K21 Health Foundation.
Yaprak and Chris Treber will be putting together sponsorship documents. Contact the clerk-treasurer’s office for more information.
