Dreams do come true!

2011-02-03T23:52:00.007-05:00

DREAMS DO COME TRUE!

Our park has a name!

The Ball Diamond Naming Committee met on November 10th to go over the name submissions. Doug Fischer’s name appeared on 17 of the 23 submissions. Doug Fischer Memorial Park was an obvious and appropriate choice. The ball diamond names, however, were another story. There are many deserving people in the ball community, past and present, who could be honoured; and there were some very good suggestions related to the New Dundee community. The committee decided to honour all past ball players by naming one field Dodgers’ Field, a name associated with great teams from the past here in New Dundee. Their choice for the other field was Dundee Diamonds, representing all the people in the community that made the new diamonds possible. These two diamond names, along with the name Doug Fischer Memorial Park, were put before council at their meeting last November. Former Ward One Councillor, Elliot Fung, made very nice presentation to council on the reasons we felt the park should be named to honour Doug. Before it was put to a vote, former Mayor Wayne Roth also made a very sincere and thoughtful speech commending Doug’s achievements in his life. The motion was passed unanimously.

Multi-use Park Committee

The committee met with the township staff last fall and came up with the final layout of the Community Park. All suggestions put forth by the public at the information night were considered and we believe we have satisfied the major concerns put forth. The committee is in the middle of picking out the playground equipment that is to be placed in the park. Five different companies have submitted a design with lots of options to choose from. This will not be an easy task but with the leadership of committee chair Jim Stirling, the final product will make us all wish we were kids again. We would also like to welcome our new Ward One Councillor, Al Junker, into our fold. Already he is regularly contributing to our meetings and is as excited about this project as the rest of us.

Ball Diamond Committee

Bob Reich and his committee are working on the final designs and projected costs for the concession stand/equipment storage building and a picnic shelter down at Doug Fischer Memorial Park. They will be meeting soon with the township to determine how much budget money is available.

Communications Committee

Not to be outdone, the Communications Committee has also been very busy applying for different grant money that is available. In addition to the Trillium Foundation grant that the committee and township co-applied for, they have also submitted an application to the T.D. Friends of the Environment for money for fifteen trees and three park benches for the Community Park playground area. The wording is so important on the applications and I’m so glad we have an outstanding group working on these.

Recognition Wall

The recognition wall is in the final design stages. We will be approving the final draft in the near future. This, along with a list of the recognition names, will be posted at various locations including our web-site. Please check it carefully before April 30, 2011, to make sure the information is correct. The deadline to have your recognition on the wall for the official openings of the parks is March 30th. Names will be able to be added after but is much easier to have all the information ahead of time.

Official Opening of the Doug Fischer Memorial Park

We are looking for people to help organize the official opening of the Doug Fischer Memorial Park slated for this spring. I welcome anybody from the community to help out with this. Please mention to friends and neighbours and inform me if you are interested in helping to plan and/or help with this event. Please feel free to contact me at newdundeeminorball@rogers.com

Fundraising

The more we fundraise, the better our parks will be... I can’t say that enough! If you haven't already donated or if you would like to increase your donation to the next recognition level please do so a.s.a.p. Donations received before April 30th will be recognized on our donor wall which will be unveiled during our opening celebration (unless the donor has asked to remain anonymous). Expressway Ford in New Hamburg is proposing that we get involved in their "Test Drive Program" We will be setting a date in the near future for you to come to the Community Centre and test drive the new Ford products. For every test drive they donate $20 to the Park Fund. If you have another fundraising idea please let me know.

I would like to thank all the people who have helped in this project so far and look forward to seeing the parks in New Dundee be the envy of all who visit from other municipalities.

Rick

New Dundee Parks Improvement Project

Dreams do come true!