This rendering shows what Winona Lake Limitless Park will look like once completed. Image provided.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WINONA LAKE — Winona Lake has nearly all the funding it needs to complete Winona Lake Limitless Park thanks to a $500,000 grant.

The town is receiving a federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grant via the U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service, with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of State Parks administering the funding.

That will pay for nearly half of the $1.125 million cost to finish the remainder of WLLP. That includes “a full completion of the playground, (the addition of) walk paths for connectivity, but then it also includes parking at (Winona Lake) Town Hall, and a remodel or revamp of the old restroom facility,” said Winona Lake Parks Department Director Holly Hummitch.

Work on the part of the project paid for with the grant cannot start until the grant is officially awarded to the town, said Hummitch.

“We hope to start by the end of June with completion by November,” said Winona Lake Park Board President Kristie Maiers. “With federal money being used on the project, we are awaiting all the final paperwork from the NPS and the DNR.”

Hummitch noted that the majority of funding for the project “has been raised through grants and private fundraising.”

The second largest source of funding for the park’s completion came from a $300,000 K21 Health Foundation grant. Others contributing to various aspects of the project include the Kosciusko County Convention, Recreation & Visitors Commission, Kosciusko County Community Foundation, Grossnickle Foundation and Kosciusko REMC.

Some specific parts of the project include a new pavilion by the splash pad, and the fire pit area, Victory Circle, being “totally revamped,” said Maiers, as well as a gaga pit for playing the dodgeball-like sport.

Those with disabilities will have an easier time using the water thanks to some new equipment.

“Not only will it be inclusive play (at the park), we’re going to have full barrier-free water access,” said Hummitch. “We’ve already purchased the Mobi-Mat, which (provides) full water access (for those with special needs).”

“It’s a rubberized mat that will take you right from the concrete, take you over the sand so you will not get caught up in the sand (in a wheelchair),” said Maiers.

The parks department also has two floating wheelchairs that can be used in the water, with patrons able to use those and the Mobi-Mat by Memorial Day. The Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club, Kiwanis Club of Warsaw, the AWS Foundation and Saemann Foundation donated for those items.

Visitors to WLLP aren’t only from Winona Lake.

“On a given day, there are people that come from all over,” she said, noting some frequent park guests are from Rochester.

Hummitch said she sees people of all abilities using WLLP currently, which is what the park was meant to do.

“It’s not just special needs, you’ll often look out the window and there’s … an elderly grandparent on top of the play structure with a grandchild, so it’s all ages and all abilities,” she said.

There should be a groundbreaking in late spring or early summer.

There’s still $90,000 left to be raised for the project. People may donate by visiting www.winonalake.net/parks-department and clicking on the “Donate” button or dropped off or sent to the town’s office at 1310 Park Ave., P.O. Box 338, Winona Lake, IN 46590.