Rebuild Creekside Kingdom is Making its Final Push for Donors Ahead of Construction

By Justin Tiemeyer || Contributing write

7/31/2024

On Thursday, July 18, 2024, from 5 pm to 7 pm, Rotary Club of Lowell threw a Creekside community party in support of Rebuild Creekside Kingdom. Community members were joined by Leathers & Associates playground consultant, Jeff Fowler, the surveyor, the demolition expert, and a number of other project leaders, to discuss the future of the thirty-year-old playground, set to be replaced later in the year.

Rotarians Theresa Mundt, Craig Fonger, and Olivia Geiger took the opportunity to gather sponsors for pickets and components. Though Rebuild Creekside Kingdom has received a number of donations and commitments from large businesses, much of the money comes from this grassroots campaign to make sure every last piece of the new playground is dedicated to someone who wanted to give. The fundraising team also makes it out to each of the Thursday evening Sizzlin’ Summer Concerts in search of support. Time is ticking to make sure the team hits their fundraising target, after all.

The existing playground is expected to be demolished by John Timpson on Tuesday, September 3, 2024. For community members who contributed a picket to the original project in 1994, Mundt expects to pick a day where people can come and pick up their pickets. More on that soon.

This leaves Wednesday, September 18 through Sunday, September 22, as the expected construction dates for the new Creekside Kingdom. Fonger wants to make sure that community members mark their calendars and get their time off from work before then, because, like the original project, this is going to be a labor of love from the greater Lowell community to the greater Lowell community.

“All skill levels are welcome,” Mundt said. “No skill level is welcome too.”

“That said,” Fonger added, “if you do have the skill level to cut a straight line, we need you.”

A signup is forthcoming with a wide variety of four-hour shifts available, and the team is open to people staying past their agreed-upon four-hour shift. Until the project is completed, Rebuild Creekside Kingdom will need as many hands and hearts as possible.

The design for the new Creekside Kingdom has been put together according to community feedback and approved by the City of Lowell. Anyone interested in checking it out can head over to the old Creekside Kingdom. There is a sign out front that is impossible to miss.

For community members who have not made their commitment to the funding of the new Creekside Kingdom, it is as easy as heading over to facebook.com/rebuildcreeksidekingdom or sending an email to rebuildcreeksidekingdom@gmail.com. There is still time to contribute to this project that will serve future generations of the greater Lowell community.