Dale C. Maley: It's been five years since Marsh Park renovation completed

It has been five years since the Fairbury Improvement Group tackled the massive project of refurbishing Marsh Park. Over the years, this park had decayed to the point of being unusable by Fairbury residents. The restrooms had been non-functional for several years.

The first step in this renovation project was to develop a computer drawing of the existing condition of the park. All buildings, sidewalks, and trees were measured and entered into a computer drafting program.

The next step was to carefully review North Park and determine what features were valued the most by Fairbury residents. The centerpiece of North Park is the swimming pool. Another of the more attractive features of North Park are the long 10-foot-wide sidewalks. Also a popular feature is the large screened-in pavilion with abundant shelving and electrical outlets for warming food.

North Park has all its playground equipment consolidated in one play area with wood mulch. The sidewalks at North Park also are well lit at night.

A comparison between North Park and Marsh Park was then performed. The first obvious shortcoming of Marsh Park was the lack of a centerpiece attraction. A water feature was first considered for Marsh Park. This water feature was ruled out because the leaves and twigs from the old-growth trees in Marsh Park would continuously plug up any water-based system.

The next centerpiece idea was to construct a large gazebo at Marsh Park. Many gazebos have a raised floor so a band could sit on the raised deck. A gazebo design with no raised floor was selected for several reasons at Marsh Park. A new bandstand negated the need for a raised floor for a band. New sidewalks would meet under the gazebo and allow pedestrians and bicyclists to pass directly through the gazebo.

An Internet search found a photograph of an attractive gazebo design. The gazebo at Veteran's Memorial Park on Locust Street was measured, and it had a 20-foot outer diameter. Since Marsh Park is much larger than the Veteran's Memorial Park, a 22-foot outer diameter was selected for the new Marsh Park Gazebo. The new Marsh Park gazebo was designed using a computer drafting program. The finished design had 497 individual pieces of wood.

For the new Marsh Park bandstand design, existing designs at parks in Pontiac and Metamora were reviewed. The Fairbury Marsh Park bandstand plan is a scaled-down version of the facility in the Metamora park.

Since one of the popular features of North Park is the screened-in pavilion, the decision was made to frame and screen the existing building in the northeast corner of Marsh Park. The accessible food shelves and electrical outlets at North Park were copied for the Marsh Park screened-in pavilion. Because the screened-in building at North Park is on the west edge of Fairbury, a small mesh screen had to be used to prevent excessive winds inside that pavilion. The small mesh screen keeps in the heat, so two substantial exhaust fans are operated at North Park to keep it cooler.

Marsh Park is not on the edge of town like North Park, so a larger mesh screen was selected. This larger mesh screen eliminated the need to add large exhaust fans at Marsh Park.

One of the critical features of any park is modern and clean restrooms. The restroom building at Marsh Park was first constructed as a gazebo bandstand more than 100 years ago with below-ground bathrooms. When the wood gazebo reached its useful life, the building was converted to a restroom.

Unfortunately, the plumbing had decayed, and the bathrooms were not functional for the last four years. A thorough study of the building revealed that it could be refurbished and be compliant with all ADA (Americans with Disability Act) regulations.

The interior walls of the restroom were unsightly concrete blocks. A search was conducted for a robust wall material that would withstand vandalism. It was found that Steidinger's Meats utilized a plastic wall material made by a Wisconsin firm. The restroom walls were studded out with new wood. The new plastic walls were screwed to the new wood studs. New toilets, sinks, ADA grab bars, exhaust fans, electric hand dryers and LED lighting were added to create attractive and robust restrooms.

When the Marsh Park design was initially completed, it was assumed the old restroom was connected to the city sewers. A study of the drain system discovered the old bathroom was still draining to a septic tank in the park. The old septic tank had failed structurally. The Fairbury city crew immediately ran a new plastic drain line from the restroom to a city sanitary sewer on Ash Street. The same team also ran a new one-inch plastic water line to feed the refurbished bathrooms.

The City of Fairbury crew poured more than 1,100 feet of beautiful new curved walkways to provide more walking sidewalks like North Park. Damaged portions of the old perimeter sidewalks were also replaced with new concrete.

The three pavilions at Marsh Park were built in 1957 by the Fairbury Lions Club. Inspections showed all three buildings were in remarkably good shape, even though they were 60 years old. One pavilion was screened-in, and the other two buildings were painted.

The main entrance sign to the park had severely deteriorated. A new sign was created and the support poles were painted. The small basketball court in the park's northeast corner had a cracked concrete court, and the south hoop was missing. The Fairbury city crew poured a new concrete court. A south hoop and support structure were also installed. The scattered playground equipment at Marsh Park was relocated to one central wood-mulched area, identical to the layout at North Park.

Two historic murals were created and mounted to the south side of the restroom. They depict the rich history of the Marsh and Stackpole families. The Marsh and Stackpole houses still stand and are adjacent to Marsh Park.

The City of Fairbury and the Prairie Lands Foundation paid material costs for the park renovation. After many thousands of hours of volunteer labor, Marsh Park was entirely refurbished. Since the rededication of this park, the screen-in pavilion has been booked every summer weekend. Fairbury residents can call 815-674-3660 to reserve a facility at either Marsh Park or North Park.

This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Dale Maley column It's been five years since Marsh Park renovation