Memorial Park is one of the key parks used by the public in the city of Shawano, and officials are gathering ideas about what to do with the park’s west side.
Currently, Popp’s Ball Park Diner is on the corner at Main and Elizabeth streets. Two concession stands are in place for the adjacent baseball diamonds, and there is also a slope area that, at one time, allowed for an ice skating rink during the winter months.
The city’s parks and recreation department is gathering input on what improvements would be good for Memorial’s west side. Parks and recreation director Matt Hendricks said the diner building will be torn down in a few years after Popp’s lease ends, and the skating rink has been dormant because it is difficult to make ice naturally, noting that six years ago was the last winter where conditions were cold enough to allow ice to develop.
A brainstorming session was held Aug. 19 during the parks and recreation commission meeting at the Shawano Recreation Center, with youth baseball and Sun Drop Dayz representatives invited to give ideas, since those events take up a lot of the park’s usage. Hendricks noted that a plan is expected to come in a few months with the information gathered by the public.
“Many of our parks and public spaces have been built with good input from people. This is no different,” Hendricks said. “This is truly initial thoughts and concepts. We are starting at ground zero. We have no preconceived notions about what should go in there.”
Blake Tyson with Parkitecture, a firm based in Madison, encouraged those in attendance to consider that the park is one of the first things that people see when coming to Shawano from state highways 22 and 29.
“We know some things are going to change, like this corner. The diner vacating will certainly open up some opportunity,” Tyson said. “It is the gateway to downtown, so how do we want that to appear?”
Parkitecture has worked with the city on several park projects, including the splash pad at Memorial’s southeast corner, as well as Franklin Park and the Naberhood Plaza.
The playground at the southwest corner is expected to remain in place, as is the World War II Sherman tank that has been in the community since July 1953 with the help of VFW Post 2723. The rest of the west side is a blank slate when it comes to future plans, according to Hendricks.
The ice area is covered in grass, and City Clerk Lesley Nemetz suggested that the area be left alone, as the youth baseball leagues use the area for warming up while other games are in play. With that, Nemetz noted that there has been some buzz on social media about having an ice skating rink in the community, possibly at another spot in the park.
“Real ice is challenging, so synthetic ice would probably have to be the way to go,” Nemetz said. “I think there is some community desire to have that (ice rink) in some form.”
Hendricks said there have been some conversations with Shawano County about moving the veterans memorial from the courthouse to Memorial Park. He noted the plans for the new courthouse/government building would have the existing courthouse space turned into parking, so the memorial needs a new home somewhere.
Piggybacking off the idea of Memorial Park being the gateway to downtown, Shawano Alderwoman Linda Meyer suggested having an archway similar to what’s currently in place at Franklin Park.
“Is there a possibility of having one of those there, too?” Meyer said. “That would draw eyes to that corner if the tank stays there, and that could be place with things around it.”
Hendricks said that could be a possibility, noting there are similar pillars in place at the Spirit of Shawano Park.
“Sometimes, putting those things in are not just decorations, but now you have a structure where it’s easy to run electricity off of,” he said.
Other suggestions included having an area where food trucks could set up for events, along with more restrooms and possibly adding a walk-in cooler to concession stands where food could be stored.
Hendricks said the idea is to get ideas from the community about what could be new and needed in Shawano.
“We’re trying to figure out, what don’t we have that would make it even more usable,” he said.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
