CC Newsletter - 11/10/04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Buy a RiverPlay Discovery Brick at Bi-Mart this Holiday Season Eugene residents can now buy customized RiverPlay "Discovery Bricks" at any of Bi-Mart's eight local stores and help make the new, destination RiverPlay playground at Skinner Butte Park a reality. This opportunity will provide a significant boost to the "One Brick at a Time" fundraising campaign that the City of Eugene and Eugene Rotary Club, in partnership with local businesses and community members, launched this fall. In order to fund Phase 1 of what will be the area's largest and most unique playground, the City must sell 1,000 bricks by the end of December. "This is a great project for Bi-Mart--and the community--to get behind," says Bi-Mart President John Harris. "We can be most supportive by doing what we do best--getting the word out and making it easy for folks to buy a brick at one of our stores. What a great gift for the person who has everything!" The project is funded in part by the 1998 parks and open space bond measure; but, in order to realize the full scope of the vision, donations are needed from the community. So far, approximately $170,000 has been raised in grants and in-kind and cash donations. The Discovery Bricks that are being sold will form the entry pathway into the playground. The cost of each custom-inscribed brick is $100, and the donation is tax deductible. Individuals and non-profit groups can help sell bricks as well. Individuals can earn free bricks and HuIt Center tickets, and non-profits can earn 10% of all brick sales for their cause or organization. For more information about RiverPlay and the "One Brick at a Time" fundraising campaign, call Carrie Peterson, park development coordinator, at 682-4907. Aisc, look for Bi-Mart's ribbon ads in The Register-Guard every week through the holidays. For more information about Bi-Mart store locations, call 344-0681. Old Skinner Butte Park Play.qround Demolished to Make Way for RiverPlay On Saturday, November 6, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., over 30 volunteers from the Eugene Rotary Club and others helped City parks staff demolish the old Skinner Butte Park playground to prepare the site for the new, destination RiverPlay playground. The site was buzzing with activity as volunteers jack-hammered select concrete borders and paths (pictured at right), ripped out some of the existing play equipment/furniture, cleared vegetation around restrooms, and stripped and painted picnic tables and benches, while younger children frolicked at the RiverPlay activity zone. All local television stations and The Register-Guard covered the event. Recent Register-Guard stories about the project can be found at: www.register.quard.com/news/2004/11/05/cl .cr. playground.1105.html and www. register.q uard.com/news/2004/11/07/d 1 .ct.demolition. 1107.html. Construction of the hands-on, state-of-the-art playground is scheduled to begin in spring 2005. The playground will include a variety of unique play elements such as a play replica of Skinner Butte, an ancient history sand dig, miniature Willamette River, and Kalapuya and pioneer villages. For more information about this and other volunteer opportunities in Eugene parks, call Matt McRae, Volunteers In Parks coordinator, at 682-4845. For more information about RiverPlay, call Carrie Peterson, park development coordinator, at 682-4907. EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 4 November 10, 2004