A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Kohn Park in Chikaming Township will be held next Friday, February 27 with supporters and dignitaries on hand.
Chikaming Township Supervisor David Bunte tells us Kohn Park will be located at 5844 Sawyer Road, the former site of an old fire station that was torn down a few years ago.
“So it’s been just an open space in Sawyer now for a number of years,” Bunte said. “The fire station was demolished. The property that was donated back to the township by the Kohn family, Jerry Kohn and his wife, Bev.”
A representative of the Kohn family will be at next week’s groundbreaking. Chikaming Township began fundraising for the new park last April, and Bunte says the community came out in support in a big way, helping secure part of the $640,000 needed for this project. The rest comes from a state grant.
Bunte says Kohn Park will be a gathering place for people of all ages, right in the heart of Sawyer.
“We don’t have any parks in Sawyer or any green space, and this is such a huge addition to downtown Sawyer. Within the park itself is a gazebo just for relaxing, sitting, enjoying the outdoors. Also utilize it then for some concerts or small acoustic performances, events throughout the year. And then we have a children’s music area where they can make sounds and such for some equipment that was generously donated by the Chipman family, and then just multiple nice areas, a lot of green space, a lot of landscaping, dog station for refilling your dog bowls and bike station for bike repair, a station also for bringing your bikes to the park or riding your bikes around town.”
Bunte says it’s satisfying to finally see this project through.
“It’s been a long process. When you’re going through a grant, which is the Land and Water Conservation Grant with the DNR — it’s also federally funded through the National Park Service. So with everything that’s going on in the past year, from a federal standpoint, it has been a challenge, to say the least. And getting everything approved and getting it to this point has been, I’d say, a labor of love because we think it’s a huge addition to our community, and to finally get it started is extremely exciting for us.”
Bunte invites the entire community to the groundbreaking.
“Hopefully the ground will be thawed enough. If not, we’ll bring in a little bit of dirt to throw a few shovels in there. Just small presentations from the people that have been engaged in the process.”
The groundbreaking will be next Friday, February 27 at 10 a.m. at the site of the new park.
