Harbor Springs continues fundraising for boardwalk, skatepark projects

HARBOR SPRINGS — As the snow falls in Harbor Springs, the city has continued fundraising to move forward on two ongoing projects.  

Harbor Springs is working on completing a boardwalk construction project as well as a skate park renovation.  

The boardwalk project is on track to be completed this summer. So far, the city has raised $389,403 of the $600,000 goal.  

More:Harbor Springs City Council to begin fundraising for boardwalk project

The bids for the project were due Wednesday. Parks and Recreation Director Rachel Roon said the bids were consistent with what the city envisioned they would come in at.  

The goal is for the construction project to be completed by the end of the summer, meaning a new boardwalk will be built for summer 2024.  

To help fundraise, the Ayrshire Foundation has given the city a $100,000 matching donation, so all donations will be matched. The city also announced a “Purchase a Step” program, where those who donate $1,000 or more will be recognized on the boardwalk. The recognitions will be posted on plaques along the observation deck or stair landings, rather than on individual steps.  

The bids will be discussed at the Feb. 6 city council meeting. After the bid is decided, the fundraiser will remain open until reaching the goal.  

More:Fundraising for new Harbor Springs skatepark underway

The city is also renovating the Harbor Springs Sk8 Park in honor of Ted Swarthout.  

“Ted Swarthout was the son of a local resident and he had two young daughters that frequented the skate park and when he passed away, suddenly, the family reached out to us, along with Evergreen and said he had a vision to revamp the skate park into a concrete skate park,” Roon said. "They came to us and said, ‘We really want to do this in memory of him,’ and then we started fundraising and came up with a plan.” 

Evergreen Skateparks is doing the project at cost, but the city is still fundraising for the project. So far, the city has fundraised around $271,000, which will entirely go towards the construction of the project itself.  

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Any additional money that comes in will be used to continue developing and adding onto the park, whether that be greenery or other additions to the park. 

“The more money we get there, it just means the better, cooler park that we can do,” said city manager Victor Sinadinoski.  

The skate park’s construction project is scheduled to begin in September or October of this year. The project will take between 6-8 weeks to complete and will be weather dependent. It will in the same location as the current skatepark, Roon said.  

All donations are being processed through the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation.  

— Contact education reporter Karly Graham atkgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at@KarlyGrahamJRN.