HOPE – After the Hope Town Square was closed for an extensive $437,500 renovation last July, residents were promised the park would reopen in the spring.
Nine months later, the town council is still not ready to select a date when the town square – one of the community’s most popular tourism attractions – will reopen.
While council member Clyde Compton made a motion Tuesday to reopen the park on April 1, his motion died for a lack of a second.
Compton says keeping the park closed as trees and flowers blossom in April will cost retailers and restaurants in downtown Hope a substantial amount in sales.
Improvements to the park include the replacement of 43 streetlights with black posts and globes that utilize LED lights. Concrete pathways have been installed, as well as specially-designed park benches and receptacles. In addition, new roofs have been placed on both the shelterhouse and bandstand.
Instead of an April opening, most of the council indicated they prefer to wait to ensure newly-sown areas of the park remain off-limits to allow new grass to grow and strengthen, member Ohmer Miller said.
“We have a big capital expense out there on that square,” Miller said. “I understand Clyde’s urgency in wanting to open it up, but I think another six weeks will give the square what it needs to be sustainable.”
Although a landscape company was hired to sow grass seed last year, they were called back earlier this year to reseed a few areas where the grass did not take, town utility superintendent David Clouse said. In recent days, Clouse said he has found some bare patches that he has seeded himself.
While new grass seed germinates in 10 to 12 days, Clouse said it’s going to take both sunshine and warmth for the the grass to grow and strengthen. In addition, there also remains uncertainty regarding when the park’s new benches will arrive to be put in place.
A brief suggestion to reopen the square on May 1 was brought up, but it sparked little discussion and no motion was made to set a specific date for the park’s reopening.
Instead, at the request of Community Center of Hope executive director Chelsea Warriner, the council gave their unanimous approval to hold its popular “Smoke on the Square” fundraiser on May 15.
The annual event features teams vying for prestige, cash and other prizes in a barbecue competition featuring pork, ribs, brisket and chicken. About 15 to 20 teams participate each year. In past events, “Smoke on the Square” has also included live music and activities.
“I think the time frame (Warriner) is talking about, the grass will surely be ready for opening by then,” council member John Walstad said.
While organizers of “Smoke on the Square” want to utilize the entire park, Warriner outlined a contingency plan in case the park is still closed in mid-May or current COVID restrictions remain in effect.
It calls for the shelterhouse for be used for preparations, and utilizing the sidewalk to provide drive-thru service in the parking area on the west side of the square.
Under the contingency plan, all other areas of the park will remain closed, and precautions regarding COVID-19 will remain in place, Warriner said shortly before her request was unanimously approved.
The community center’s food pantry receives 25% of any activity done for profit in the town square, Compton says.
Since January, the council has provided the food bank $1,000 a month to help the financially disadvantaged put meals on their tables.
Although that assistance ends after this month, the council asked Walstad, the liaison to the food pantry, to keep a close eye on supply and demand in case additional assistance is required in the future.
