Valley officials cut ribbon at Hufnagle Park

Jun. 25—LEWISBURG — Around 100 attendees gathered to celebrate the reopening of Hufnagle Park in Lewisburg on Friday.

Local elected officials and other representatives were in attendance along with fire and police departments who came to show their support for the new project.

Mayor Kendy Alvarez said it has been 50 year since tropical storm Agnes ravaged the community.

"We celebrate a new landscape in Lewisburg with the grand opening of the renovated Kidsburg as part of Hufnagle Park," Alvarez said.

"I'm honored to be here on behalf of all those before me and what it took to get us here today," said Kim Wheeler, executive director of SEDA-COG.

Wheeler said attendees were there to celebrate more than one project. She referenced the Hurricane Agnes flood that consumed the park.

"Fifty years ago things looked different than they do today. Everything was completely under water," Wheeler said.

She said Hufnalge Park is Lewisburg's "central green space."

Wheeler said the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) gave $500,000 to the project.

"It's taken a while to get to this point," said Wes Fahringer from DCNR. "There's nothing like this park's infrastructure anywhere in Pennsylvania."

Fahringer said Lewisburg is a model for other communities and people recreate locally.

"I look forward to bringing other municipalities to see Lewisburg," Fahringer added. "We are committed to helping communities and seeing the fruits of these labors."

"DCED (Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development) is pretty proud of what happened here in Lewisburg," said Rick Vilello, deputy secretary for Community Affairs with the DCED.

Vilello thanked Alvarez and other officials for their efforts.

"This is a model when everyone is rowing the boat in the same direction," said Vilello. "This is a great example of partnerships."

Wheeler said she was glad Vilello could attend.

Tim Sullivan, construction services manager for district three of PennDOT, thanked Borough Manager Bill Lowthert and Community Development and Grants Manager Steve Beattie for their dedication to the project

"One of the joys of my job is I get to see new projects around the world. This is an incredible park and incredible project," said Bryan Yeazel, CEO of Playpower who owns Playworld. "Congratulations on the home run."

Playworld donated the state-of-the-art playground equipment at Hufnagle to thank first-responders in the community for their efforts putting out a fire at their local facilities. He thanked first-responders in the audience.

Yeazel said since the fire, one hundred new jobs were created at Playworld that was a result from the fire.

"The volume of production that is coming out of the plant has never been higher," he said.

"This park has a special relationship with bravery. That's one of the reasons we are proud to be associated with what you've built in the community," said Yeazel.

He said for a community to survive we need to have each others backs.

Borough Manager Bill Lowthert said many people played a role in opening day.

"Everybody here has helped make that vision a reality," Lowthert said. "We began our park improvements with small steps."

Lowthert thanked Playworld, DCED, Larson Design Group, First Community Partnership Foundation, Lewisburg's Tree Commission, Wilow Play Works, Bucknell University, elected officials and borough work crews, among others.

"We have a playground that will make large cities envious," Lowthert said, who added other projects already are in the works such as a social gathering area at Hufnagle Park.

He said plans are in the works for work on the north part of Hufnagle.

"This piece here is the end of a 20-year project," stated former Lewisburg Mayor Judy Wagner. "Never ever in my wildest dreams did I think that we would finished Sixth Street in such a fashion."

"Those are things we dreamed about 22 years ago, now here it is. So to say Lewisburg plays the long game that would be accurate," Wagner stated.

Wagner thanked Beattie specifically, Lowthert, elected officials, and companies involved who worked with the borough on the project

"And the citizens who support us," Wagner said. "Steve (Beattie) has knowledge on so many different levels."

Wagner said the vision for Hufnagle has been a vision and process.

A lot of officials and staff and folks who are first responders come together to re-organize the park, a center of entertainment for the whole area."

Wagner said Hufnagle Park is not finished but an amazing place to bring children and do positive things. She said the borough did heavy lifting with the community in mind.

"It's a great place to bring your family and have a good time," added Wagner.