Estevan's downtown oasis is close to becoming a reality.Work on the city's newest park has been taking place throughout the past few weeks and outside of a few finishing touches, it should be ready for use in the near future.A joint project between the Estevan Beautification Committee and the local Girl Guides organization, the park, which is located on the 1100 Block of Fourth Street between the Salvation Army and SaskTel building, is designed to be an area where residents, especially those who live and work in the downtown core, can read, enjoy a bite to eat or simply relax.Leslie Padwick, the chairwoman of the Beautification Committee, said the idea for the park came to her and fellow committee member Gale Tytlandsvik five years ago after a trip to Whitewood where they happened upon a downtown park there.Padwick said they thought a park would be a great addition to Estevan and following a few years of planning and cutting through red tape, finally got approval to move ahead in late 2009."The overall focus of the plan is that it will be, I like to call it an urban oasis," said Padwick. "People can go there and have their morning coffee or have lunch. It's very well sheltered so it will be a nice little spot to sit and relax in the middle of the downtown."Padwick noted that Tytlandsvik designed the park while a local company, Rock Solid Landscaping, was responsible for making her plans come to life."In terms of what is going into it, we are still going to be adding some trees. "(Rock Solid) did all the paving stones and the crushed rock and the planters that are all there. We also have some culverts in there and the idea is that the culverts will have small trees and shrubbery and greenery in them."Right now they look awful because they are just a piece of concrete but the idea is that the Girl Guides will mosaic the outside of the concrete culverts and we have to work on that yet. We haven't decided yet exactly what they are going to put on them but they will be painted or have a glass or tile mosaic."Padwick said they also plan to install a new mural on the wall of the Salvation Army but that will not likely happen until 2011. They also hope to add benches in the future. Although the project is not completed, Padwick said all involved are very happy with what they have seen thus far."Gale really headed this project up and she is just absolutely delighted and so am I," she said. "Already we have heard some really good comments. People are really happy about it and we are really pleased with the way it is turning out."The idea is that we would work with the Girl Guides to make the project happen but when it is completed they will look after the maintenance over the long term because they were looking for something that would be a lasting contribution to the community."We are just hoping that people in the downtown and citizens of Estevan are really going to appreciate it and enjoy it. It's low maintenance and should last for a long time."
