A grand opening ceremony will celebrate the finish of a $2.8 million makeover of Smyrna Park at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 4.
The city of Ceres will hold the ceremony under the new shelter off of Fowler Road south of Mae Hensley Junior High School.
Most of the project was funded by a Clean California Local Grant Program (CCLGP) grant administered by Caltrans. The project also used $1.3 million of federal ARPA funds.
Smyrna Park was determined to be in the highest need for improvement of all Ceres parks based on highest community use, age of facilities, the high volume of vandalism and graffiti, security concerns and increased maintenance costs.
One of the biggest changes was the demolition of the large picnic shelter built by the Ceres Lions Club along Fowler Road and replaced with a parking lot. Two separate covered pavilion areas were constructed in a new plaza located where the former Fowler Road parking lot was.
One of the shelters is a metal structure with has a barn-life roof line while the other is covered with sail cloth shade structures. They were built where the former Fowler Road parking lot was located and are much closer to the children’s play equipment area.
The old masonry block restroom was razed to make way for the pavilion.
The parking lot off of Rose Avenue was shifted closer to the road and has improved sidewalks built to and from the pavilion, as well as bicycle racks.
The project included the planting of numerous trees and drought tolerant landscaping. Architectural fencing, walkways with ramps for the disabled, new shade structures, more tables with barbecue pits and new trash enclosures were also included.
City Engineer Kevin Waugh was thrilled to begin the project but has since retired. He wanted to upgrade the children’s playground but the budget didn’t allow it. Upgrades to the playground equipment will have to wait funding.
Once the city makes room at its corporation yard on Railroad Avenue, it may abandon the city yard inside Smyrna Park with the space used for pickle ball courts.
McFadden Construction Inc. was the selected bidder on the work.
