Highlights of 2019
2019 was as busy year for the EPF—fundraising, cleaning up the park and making many improvements.
The Eskridge City Park has been a source of pride for the city of Eskridge for over 100 years. As with all things, it is showing signs of its age. But exciting things are coming for this park and the Eskridge Park Foundation is making great strides to renovate, revitalize and restore the beauty and history of the park for generations to come.
Here are a few highlights from the year:
Bingo nights—This fundraiser has successfully raised over $3,000 over the last year. The Park Board hosted one in March and June this year with great turnouts at both.
The park, and it's feature bandstand, are on the National Historic Register of Places, with the bandstand turning 110 years old this year. In honor of this milestone, the Park Board started the 110 Campaign and has raised over $10,000 so far.
In March, the Eskridge Park was notified that it had been chosen as the first non-profit in Wabaunsee County to take part in Emporia Area Match Day, an event sponsored by the Emporia Community Foundation to raise funds for groups like the Eskridge Park Foundation. This event will take place on Veteran’s Day, November 11, where people can donate in person at the Flint Hills Mall in Emporia, or online at www.emporiamatchday.com, and all funds raised will be matched on a percentage basis.
In April, the board hosted a Progress in the Park Day. They built a stone flowerbed around the All Veteran’s Memorial sign, planted flowers, cleaned up the entire park and spread mulch around the swings and merry-go-round. They also helped install a new piece of playground equipment purchased by the yearly Wiffle Ball tournament fundraiser. There were about 20 volunteers who worked as quickly as possible before a huge thunderstorm passed through.
On May 1, an enthusiastic group of moms and kids delivered 200 May Day baskets around town as a thank you for all the community support the Park Board has received this year. Everyone loved this surprise and the feedback was wonderful.
In September, the park was the host site for Celebration in the Flint Hills and the Native Stone Scenic Byway. It was great to see a band performing in the bandstand once again. The EPF attended with a table and handed out flyers about our cause.
The project that the board has been most proud to complete this year is purchasing two new flagpoles for the All Veteran’s Memorial located in the south east corner of the park. A third flag pole was moved from another location and all three were placed in September. This memorial was built by Norman Shaw for the Eskridge Pride Coalition in 2009 to honor all veterans in Wabaunsee County and the lighted flags- United States, Kansas, and POW-MIA- are the long-awaited finishing touch. Eskridge has a proud history of honoring their Veterans and part of the money for the flags came from the Kenny Wyre memorial.
The Park Board hosted its first Trivia Night on Saturday November 9. Teams of 8 or less competed for cash prizes. There was no place with more laughs and fun than the Lake Wabaunsee Fire House that Saturday night. Two tables tied for first prize and they both generously agreed to donate their winnings to the EPF. Fun fact, the two tables were cousins and are clearly the family to beat!
The Eskridge Park Foundation was excited to end this year on a strong note. We set a goal to raise $35,000 this year, and accomplished over $10,500 so far. We are eager to see how our participation in Match Day next week will impact this amount. During this event, we will fundraise with 24 other organizations to get a piece of the $60,000 pot. Historically, other participants have walked away with $10,000-20,000 in total funds. This year has been very busy and we anticipate many changes to come in 2020, but most of all, we are simply blown away by the big heart we've experienced in this small town.
