Riverwalk, Skate Park dedicated during city festival

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Mount Pleasant park-goers now can visit some of their favorite spots without
having to think about a car.

Mayor Adam Miller and members of the Mount Pleasant City Commission and the
Parks and Recreation department were on hand Saturday to open the Riverwalk
Trail, which connects four area parks and a baseball field.

“The improvements to the park are magnificent, and the taxpayers only
paid one quarter of it,” Miller said.

The new foot trail, which connects Pickens Field with Island Park, 331 N.
Main St.; Nelson Park, 714 W. Broadway St.; Chipp-A-Waters Park, 1403 W. High
St.; and Mill Pond Park, 607 S. Adams St., is approximately 4.2 miles long
and completely barrier free.

“Few towns in Michigan can boast of several miles of easy-access trails,”
Miller said.

The dams, which blocked the Chippewa River, were taken down and replaced with
stone tiers, which provide some adventure for people who wish to canoe the
river.

City commissioners said as many as 50 towns have requested information on
how the city of Mount Pleasant removed the dam so successfully.

“We had to be really careful,” said Greg Baderschneider, director
of parks. “We didn’t want to have the silt from the river wash down
too far, but we didn’t want to have water be drained from the wetlands
either.”

Bob Frost, parks and recreation commissioner, said the trail integrates land
and water recreation.

“This trail provides a beautiful place to walk, bike, rollerblade, as
well as fishing and canoe access,” Frost said.

Miller and commissioners canoed down the river, landing at the new Character
Counts! Gazebo to attend the Riverwalk ceremony.

Free pedometers also were given away to several walkers on the trail, who
were enjoying the nice weather and the new hard-surface trail.

“This is an incredible gift, and we have to thank people hundreds of
years ago for purchasing this land and holding on to it,” said Kathie
Grinzinger, assistant city manager. “At times it must have been an economic
hardship.”

Residents also gathered for the opening of the new Mount Pleasant Skate Park,
located in Island Park.

“We started this park in the fall of 2002, and finished it in November
of that year,” said Chris Bundy, recreation director. “We opened
it for a little while, but this is the first full summer we’ll be open.”

After some free skating time, professional skater Toebee Parkhurst gave a
demonstration of free-style skateboarding.

After his demonstration, Parkhurst, sponsored partly by American Ramp Company,
spent the afternoon signing autographs and skating with the kids.

The American Ramp Company built the ramps for the new skate park.

“This really is a nice place to skate,” Parkhurst said. “Look
at this, we’ve got a couple of baseball diamonds that are mostly empty
because everyone is here skating.”

Parkhurst said he has been skating for 13 years.

“The perception is still there that skaters are bad kids, but skateboarding
is keeping these kids out of trouble,” he said. “They may give each
other a hard time, but they are great kids.”

The park is open from dawn to dusk, weather permitting, but younger skaters
are given preference in the morning.

“Before 10 (a.m.), we’ll give preference to the younger kids,”
Bundy said. “We want to give them a chance to learn how to skate before
the older, more experienced kids come in.”