WINONA LAKE – A groundbreaking ceremony for the first phase of the K21 Health Foundation Splashpad at Winona Lake Limitless Park was Saturday at Winona Lake Park. The groundbreaking was for phase 1 of the splashpad, year-round restrooms, trailhead facilities and parking area. The community, Winona Lake Park Board members, Limitless Park Committee members and Winona Lake Town Council and town officials gathered for the groundbreaking. The splashpad is planned to open Labor Day weekend. Groundbreaking on the limitless park will be spring 2015, with dedication in summer 2015. The total cost of the project is $1.5 million. The limitless park will accommodate children with neurological disabilities such as autism, children who have intellectual disabilities such as Down syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, children who require wheelchairs or other medical equipment, children with physical disabilities and children with social or emotional difficulties. Craig Allebach, town coordinator, Rich Haddad, K21 Health Foundation president, Shelby Beam, park board president, and Erin Porter, limitless park committee chair, spoke during the groundbreaking. Allebach spoke about the importance of the project. “Today is a monumental moment where we can groundbreak and get started on the first phase of the limitless park,” Allebach said. The project will be completed in four phases. Once completed, the park will have a splash pad with picnic area and year-round restroom facilities with showers that can be uses by bicyclists (phase one) and a playground (phase two). There will be paths created for easy access to the beach and lake and additional parking (phase three). Summer programming will be expanded to include a special needs day camp utilizing the facilities (phase four.) Haddad said the K21 board was pleased to donate $300,000 toward the project. “The splashpad is a unique opportunity for our community that will be used by so many people and advances the culture of healthy living,” Haddad said. Haddad thanked the K21 board and the town, volunteers and park board for their work on the project. Beam said the project has been community driven. “The whole project has been community driven with people in our community wanting to better our community,” Beam said. Porter spoke about the features of the splashpad and limitless park. She said year-round restrooms will be available to bicyclists and there will be a playground for all abilities with features such as a swing that looks like a boat that is wheelchair accessible and a crawl tube and slide. In order to enhance and enrich the facility and surrounding area, the park will incorporate ecologically friendly elements in its construction, including a recirculating pump to decrease the annual cost of water and its disposal and brick pavers to allow grass to grow and water to drain efficiently. A Wheels In Winona event also was held Saturday where the community could see vehicles such as fire trucks, cement trucks, hummers, farm equipment and semis and donate funds to the limitless park. T-shirts also were sold as a fundraiser for the park. For more information about the park or to make a donation, contact Winona Lake at 574-267-7581, visit www.winonalake.net/limitlesspark or like Winona Lake Limitless Park on Facebook.
