Gazebo being created by Elgin students at pocket park, trailhead
ELGIN — A new Elgin park is receiving a major addition.
A gazebo is being built at the park, which is on .27 of an acre of land in the north end of town, by a team of Elgin High School students. The land is set to become a combination trailhead and pocket park that will be part of a 63-mile non-motorized trail along the existing tracks within the publicly-owned Wallowa-Union Railroad Authority corridor between Elgin and Joseph.
The students constructing the gazebo are in Elgin High School’s geometry construction class.
Students study geometry concepts and then apply what they have learned at a construction site led by Matt Adams, the high school’s woodshop and construction teacher.
“They are learning how to use geometry concepts in real life," Adams said.
The gazebo, which has a concrete base, is about 16-by-20 feet and is about 15 feet high.
A big portion of recent work on the gazebo has involved constructing the pitched roof. All of the class’ students have spent time up on the roof, while wearing a harness to prevent them from getting hurt if they fall. Most of the students appear comfortable while working on the roof.
"You get accustomed to it," said EHS junior Aiden Johnson.
Joey Hale, a sophomore, said he looks forward to coming to the worksite because he likes being outdoors and doing something that will help others.
“I like being in nature and doing something good for the community," he said.
Hale also likes helping to create something at the pocket park.
“We all really enjoy it," he said.
Hale credits this to the efforts of Adams, described by Hale as an excellent teacher who is knowledgeable and always helpful.
This is not the first construction project the class has been involved with. The geometry construction class is also part of the home building program at the school. Through the program, students, under Adams’ direction, construct homes that are sold to people in the community. Money from the sales goes to the home building program and is used by students to build another home.
The home building program started about eight years ago. The most recent home was completed two months after four years of work and is located in north Elgin.
Pocket park will have many features
The Elgin pocket park’s trailhead, in addition to its gazebo, will also have Americans with Disabilities-compliant parking space, ADA-compliant picnic tables and benches, interpretive signs with information about the area’s earliest inhabitants and more recent history, and a bicycle maintenance stand, according to Gregg Kleiner, project coordinator of the Joseph Branch Trail Consortium, which is organizing the trail-with-rail project.
The creation of the trailhead, pocket park and the first 1,056 yards of the trail will be paid for with grant money, including funds from the Oregon State Parks Recreational Trails Program, Oregon Department of Transportation, Roundhouse Foundation, Schwemm Family Foundation and Cycle Oregon, Kleiner, said.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the pocket park and trailhead in Elgin will be conducted June 15.
