Jessica Foster
Staff WriterNext summer, a renovation project on Lakeside Memorial Park will commence.
When completed, the flagship park will have the stamp of many who have called Forest Lake home.
The Forest Lake Park Board, through the Commemorative Brick Fundraising Project, is offering individuals the chance to be involved in the project.
Individuals, businesses and groups can purchase personalized bricks for the new park. The bricks, which will outline pathways and be placed in areas throughout the park, can serve as a means of recognition, of memory or a memorial.
Renae Reedy is parks coordinator for the city of Forest Lake.
ìThe goal of this is more participation than fundraising,î Reedy said.
A $800,000 renovation of Lakeside Park is expected to begin on July 11 and be completed in October, 2005.
The bricks have room for up to three lines of text and can include names, dates or other messages. The bricks sell for $25 to $35, depending on the amount of text.
ìIt can be a memorial, it can be anything they want it to be,î said Helen Neujahr, who has served on the Forest Lake Park Board for about a decade.
ìIt can be memories of Forest Lake, growing up, graduating, folks getting married at the gazeboÖtheir imaginations can flow,î Neujahr said.
Diane Rueb, another longtime member of the park board, said the bricks would be a good way to memorialize loved ones.
Organizers have not set a goal on how many they sell. While the original idea was for the bricks to outline the boardwalk parallel to First Lake, there are several places to lay the bricks.
ìWeíll put down as many as we can get,î Neujahr said. ìWe have unlimited places to put them.î
Ultimately, the park board hopes to bring more people to the park, and to encourage people to take ownership of the park.
To order bricks
Sales of bricks have begun in time for the holiday gift giving season. Sales will continue through next spring.
Order forms are available at Forest Lake City Hall, at local retailers, on the city website at www.forest-lake.mn.us or by calling 651-209-9723.
Federal grant
The Lakeside Park plan also received some formal good news from U.S. Sen Norm Coleman on Monday that the city has been expecting.
Coleman announced that the National Park Service has awarded the city of Forest Lake a $94,161 matching grant from the Land & Water Conservation Fund for development of an outdoor sports recreation project in Lakeside Park.
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