photo by: Elvyn Jones

Eudora Parks and Recreation Department Director Gary Scott talks about the 0,000 makeover of Paschal Fish Park in the central park of the city. The park has been closed since July to add new playground equipment, shelter and a perimeter walking trail.

Gary Scott got a lesson in the popularity of Eudora’s Paschal Fish Park after it closed in July for a makeover.

“People ask me all the time when it is going to reopen,” the Eudora Parks and Recreation director said. “It’s very popular. Children played here all the time.”

The two-square-block park at 14th and Maple streets, one of seven parks in Eudora, should reopen in about six months, although that date was dependent on a number of factors, Scott said.

“I hate to put a date on it,” he said. “It depends on the weather, but we are also doing most of the work in-house to save money. So it depends on how often the crew is called to work on other problems in the city.”

Eudora City Manager Barack Matite said the park’s makeover cost $60,000. Revenue from the city’s 0.75-cent sales tax for parks, park impact fees on new development and an internet fundraising campaign paid for the project, he said.

When work on Paschal Fish Park is finished, the city can put a completed check mark on its parks and recreation master plan, Matite said.

On Tuesday, damp earth revealed the site where the park’s playground equipment once entertained neighborhood children. Scott said the equipment, much of it dating from the park’s opening in 1968, was safe but in poor condition. It will be replaced with new equipment purchased in part from money earned through an internet fundraising drive this spring.

“We raised from $13,000 to $15,000 with in-kind pledges,” he said. “We have people who have made commitments to install the new playground equipment.”

The city also will build a “natural park” playground featuring logs and stumps, Scott said.

Other elements of the makeover include the replacement of the rectangular shelter with a hexagonal structure and installation of a concrete trail around its perimeter, Scott said.

The park is also known as Water Tower Park because of the large blue mushroom-looking structure rising from its center. Recent excavation visible to the tower’s east reveals where a city crew removed a large valve that was no longer needed and the concrete box that housed it. Scott said that area will be reclaimed for an enlarged playground and green space. The city also replaced the undersized waterlines extending from the water tower on park grounds and buried electrical lines that used to stretch above the park, he said.

The park has aged with the surrounding neighborhood, Scott said. When it opened, the nearby ranch-style homes were filled with young families with children who gravitated to the park. It’s now popular with their visiting grandchildren, he said.

New to the neighborhood since the park opened is the Medicalodges Eudora skilled nursing and rehabilitation center immediately to the south, Scott said.

“Once we get the trail finished, I’m hopeful it will entice residents or their caregivers to come over here for walks,” he said.

Paschal Fish Park wasn’t the only park to get attention in recent weeks. Volunteers installed 300 feet of iron fence in Pilla Park along Main Street.

“It will prevent children from running from the playground area onto the street,” Scott said.