Nonprofit group begins fundraising for event center on Clinton Lake

A fundraising campaign has begun to build an events center on the western shore of Clinton Lake.

The Clinton Lake Historical Society will launch on Sunday its fundraising drive for a center that it plans to build adjacent to its longtime Wakarusa River Valley Heritage Museum, which is located in the Bloomington Park campground on the federal reservoir.

Benefit Concert

Students from Kansas University’s School of Music will perform classical music and also Civil War era pieces at a concert from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, 2415 Clinton Parkway. A free-will donation is requested.

“It has a chance to be a really special meeting place,” said Martha Parker, director of the historical society. “This will be a place where people can have weddings or corporate meetings or community meetings. Anybody who wants to have a meeting at Clinton Lake, this is going to be the place.”

Plans call for the facility to seat 150 people and to include full kitchen and restroom facilities. The center will be just west of the museum building and will have views across Clinton Lake and the dam.

“It is a perfect location for it,” said Sue Gehrt, operations project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Clinton Lake.

Gehrt said the project already has won preliminary approval from the Corps of Engineers. She said the Corps recognizes that there is a need for a facility that can accommodate events that don’t want to brave the outdoors.

“We have a lot of people who want to have weddings or larger events,” Gehrt said. “We have shelter houses, but they are still exposed to the weather. I think this will be extremely popular.”

Parker said the society is not yet releasing a fundraising goal for the project. A design for the center has been completed, but she said more discussions with contractors are needed before a firm price estimate can be created.

The nonprofit organization, though, is ready to begin raising awareness for the project. She said that’s a major purpose of Sunday’s benefit concert. Rachel Wilder, a graduate student in Kansas University’s School of Music, is organizing a benefit concert with several of her fellow classmates. The event will feature classical music and other music from the Civil War era, including several patriotic songs of the day. The event is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, 2415 Clinton Parkway. A free-will donation is requested.