To celebrate its centennial anniversary, the Souderton Telford Rotary Club took on the project of helping renovate and add new additions to the Souderton community park, adding in a new fitness area, playground, restroom and kitchenette area.
“When we broke ground, there had been no prior work done at the park. This was an actively used park, but had very few amenities, “ Rotary Park project chair Leon Moyer said. “We proposed to the borough that we wanted to create a legacy park for all generations: our goal being to create a gathering place for the community to enjoy as a whole.”
According to Moyer, the Rotary Club had, in the past, made a contribution to the park, building its concert stage known as the “band shell.”
“When doing this renovation, one of the things we wanted to do was have a place for children and adults. We added two playground areas—one for younger children and another for kids five to twelve—and a fitness area for adults,” Moyer said.
To celebrate the completion of the six-year-long project, the Rotary Club threw a party at the park on September 13, featuring a free concert lineup of bands, as well as free ice cream and a drone light show towards the end of the night.
“We wanted to have an opportunity to just invite the community out to celebrate with us. While at the event, we also had the opportunity to present the Souderton Borough with a check for $1.3 million, which is the amount we raised for the park renovation,” Rotarian Karla Myers said.
According to Souderton Mayor Daniel Yocum, he feels that it is important for communities to have access to recreational areas, as it allows them to be able to take a break from the hustle of everyday life.
“In the modern world, it’s really easy to be consumed in your own life,” Yocum said, “but to live in a small town, to live in a community, to get out and have a space to see one another and use the pavilion, [to] go to Concert Sundaes in the summer, [to]go work out on the fitness equipment that’s free for use outside [and] to bring your kids there, to play in the facilities [is something special.]”
The Rotary Club faced various challenges when starting the project in 2019.
“To promote a project that people could not see what the vision for was difficult, as nothing had been done in that park for 35 years. We also did not have much parking space, too, as we were across from the pool,” Moyer said.