Depot Park Tennis Courts Reopen – Park Rapids Enterprise

The city-owned tennis courts at Park Rapids Depot Park opened Monday, July 24, after a long and eventful project to replace them.

The city’s four courts, between 3rd and 4th Street East, are located just east of four similar courts owned by Park Rapids Area Schools that were not renovated. However, the school district changed its eight tennis courts on Helten Avenue last year.

At the grand opening of the renovated courts, Kathy Peterson with the Park Rapids Tennis Association recognized the many private and corporate funders who funded the project and stayed involved due to COVID-19 and skyrocketing construction costs that forced the project to be re-bid.

Peterson also credited City Manager Angel Weasner, the latest of four city administrators to touch the project, for helping push it through. Former administrators John McKinney and Ryan Mathisrud and interim administrator Betty Thomsen were also in attendance.

Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

After Peterson’s speech, the two donors who planted the seed of the project: Dianne Steiner and Amy Cass threw the first ball over the net. Members of the audience attending the ceremony moved under the picnic shelter at Depot Park for some punches and rolls, while just minutes later the Virginia couple started a match on one of the new concrete courts.

We didn’t go to downtown businesses to get donations, Peterson said. This hit during COVID and they got hurt. It was like, I’m not going to ask them for dollars now.

Instead, he said, in addition to private donors, the project has been supported by corporate sponsors such as all three of the city’s health care facilities and three of four banks, as well as the Rotary Club and the American Legion Auxiliary.

Peterson described the club’s feelings about the finished fields as ecstatic.

Thanks to them, he said. When the first offer that came in was off the chart, I went to them and said, “Here’s what they were looking at.

Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise

In the first design of the fields, top-class post-tensioned concrete was required. Peterson said the next option was pre-cut concrete, with an estimated cost of $650,000.

It was that or asphalt, he said. I sat there at the end of the meeting and asked them: Do you want to put on a cap? If we can’t lift anything, do we take asphalt? Shall we say, just go on asphalt? Which actually would have been enough for us at that point. Nobody would make a move. Nobody said a word. The only word that was said was that concrete was being fetched.

They stepped up. We went out and hit a few donors.

Peterson said donations ranged from $50 to $50,000. He said every dollar worked, including a $15,000 grant from the US Tennis Association’s North Region, gifts Joe Cass raised from two private donors of $10,000 and $25,000, and a $250,000 land and water conservation grant from the Minnesota DNR, which Tom Stursa20 wrote in a successfully rejected application20.

The collaboration to raise funds for this exceeded my expectations, said Peterson, adding that no one ever said a hard no.

In the end, after factoring in the grant and city assistance, Peterson said the actual fair bid was $565,000, which was not a problem (during construction). Everything went well.

He expressed optimism that the final price of the project will be lower than the bid amount.

Peterson emphasized the longevity of the concrete court replacement. They don’t crack like asphalt in 20 years or less, he said. The city should never have to maintain them, except for general maintenance, which will possibly repaint them when the lines wear out. But they shouldn’t have to replace the whole thing again.

That was always the goal: for the community, forever.

Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise