From Shauna Lund, For Iron County Today
Water, birthday cake, and ducks seem to have little in common, but at 5 p.m. on May 28, the three will come together in a family friendly celebration hosted by the Cedar City Rotary Club.
How do the three connect? Here’s the story of each:
- Water — Seven years ago, the Cedar City Rotary Club had a vision of water-play for all in the West Canyon Park that featured the history and heritage of water use in the Cedar valley. With grants from RAP Tax, the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation, Trees Utah and the generosity of many within the community, Phase One of the Rotary Club’s Canyon Water Park is complete!
Choice Builders oversaw the project without making a profit and their partners, SD Construction and Nelson Dirtworks did the same. BZI built the all-abilities water play table and Southwest Plumbing designed and built the pivot. Paul Longson designed and built the weirs. Rocky Ridge helped with the sand, rocks, dirt and dumpsters. Cedar Temp Fencing placed the fencing and Western Rock the concrete.
The Central Iron County Water Conservancy District donated the signage and bypass pipe, while the Washington Water Conservancy District donated the technician and the fuser to put it in place. Trees Utah provided funding for the new trees. Cedar City Motors donated $25,000 towards the project. The Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation did its part with the pathways and some of the water play features, while the RAP Tax provided a lion’s share of the funding.
“We are so excited to wrap up the first phase of this project,” said Paul Monroe, Central Iron County Water Conservancy District General Manager and past Rotary president. “We have heard from tons of people in the community who share our excitement. When we first started this project in 2017, the city was just wrapping up a survey on parks and recreation, and the number one requested need from the community was a water play/splash pad. This begins the fulfilment of that dream.”
- Birthday cake — Rotary is 100 years old! The Cedar City Rotary Club was organized June 10, 1925, as Club #1060 in Utah District #5420. The desire of the club to serve Cedar City and surrounding Iron County has not changed, but its membership has grown from a humble beginning of a handful of members to now more than 105 members, making it one of the larger clubs in the state.
As Rotarians began discussing how to celebrate 100 years, they agreed that combining the celebration with the culmination of the opening of the Canyon Water Park was very fitting. What better way than to show one of the many projects Rotary has shouldered to serve the entire community.
Current Rotary President Randy Allen said: “This is the perfect time to look back with gratitude to the people who served, built, supported, lifted and fixed things. All those 100 years of Rotarians inspires us to carry this tradition of service forward, preserving and perpetuating the goodness we inherited.”
- Ducks — And finally, to bring the two events together with a look to the future, Rotarians will be putting on a duck race during the park opening. Residents are invited to “purchase” a rubber duck to enter in one of four categories: Infant to preschool; elementary school age; middle school to high school; and adults. The ducks will race through the water park and the winners in each category will take home a great prize. The duck race is more than a fun competition. Each duck will help raise funds to move into the second phase of the park, which includes an all-abilities playground.
Residents can purchase ducks by paying via Venmo @cedarcityrotary. Please mention ducks and the category in the notes. Cost is $5 per duck or 5 ducks for $20. Interested in just making a donation? Send your contribution via Venmo to @cedarcityrotary and note it is for the park.
Rotary gives thanks to the community for supporting this vision for the past several years. We invite all to join us for water, birthday cake and ducks at 5 p.m. on May 28.