The City of Weyburn's parks board is hoping to bring in more improvements and expansion of the Tatagwa Parkway, and are continuing with a contribution program through which they are hoping to garner community support for the park projects.
The City of Weyburn's parks board is hoping to bring in more improvements and expansion of the Tatagwa Parkway, and are continuing with a contribution program through which they are hoping to garner community support for the park projects.This is the second year of the program begun since Coun. Nancy Styles took over as chair of the parks board, who pointed out the reason simply is the matching government grant isn't enough to cover the many ambitious projects set out in the parks master plan, which the board completed last year.We got the idea (for the fundraising) from a couple other parks in the province. For example, Meewasin does it. We do get very limited funds for the parkway. The province gives us a grant of $40,000, which the city has to match, and out of that, $25,000 goes just to maintenance. What we have left, we use for the parks, said Coun. Styles.She notes that in the last couple of years, the parks board was able to put in new signage for the parks, and was able to build a new paved path on the city's northern edge, along Fifth Avenue and down east of 18th Street to First Avenue.The plans are to extend it from where it picks up on First Avenue down the east side of the city. The city would also like to connect the park paths from Souris Valley to the new path along the western half of Fifth Avenue, but this would cost about $60,000 to complete, said Coun. Styles.She also noted that since the city obtained the former land of the Co-op feed mill, there are plans to possibly extend the boardwalk and connect up the museum with the parkway and with River Park, all of which will cost money.We need to raise the money, or it's going to take a long, long time to get it done, said Coun. Styles.Even to do the paved path on the north side, the city received funds from the Rotary Club along with a federal grant, she said; otherwise, the path would have remained as a gravel path.The contribution program is over and above the ongoing Plant-a-Tree program for Tatagwa, which helps look after the costs of planting trees in the Tatagwa Parkway. Currently, the city has 72 hectares, or 180 acres, of park land adjoining the Souris River, with some 175 native plant species identified and catalogued from the parkway.There were 36 signs installed identifying plant species and wildlife along with picnic tables and park benches, and 40,000 various-sized trees have been planted in the parkway, with over 3,100 volunteer hours donated towards making improvements to the parkway.
