Kiwanis Club Caps Off Hiley Park Playground Project With Ribbon Cutting, Dedication
Glenwood Kiwanis President Laura Hellbusch and Mayor Angie Winquist cut the ribbon at the Hiley Park playground.
Glenwood Kiwanis Club members pose on the renovated playground at Hiley Park. From left: Michelle Wright, Laura Hellbusch, Jim Henderson, Erma DeJesus-Curtis, Jacque Young, Jon Lorson and Craig Williams. Not Pictured are Denise Crawford and Barb Mass.
Kinslie Yale and Blaire Hubka were among the children enjoying the new Hiley Park playground Friday.
Graham Fluke glides down the slide at the new and improved playground at Hiley-Kiwanis Park Friday afternoon in Glenwood.
Donor benches at Hiley Park.
Members of the Glenwood Kiwanis Club were joined by donors and community leaders Friday evening to celebrate and formally dedicate over $200,000 in improvements made to the Hiley Park playground.
“Start to finish, this project took four years,” said Kiwanian and Hiley Park project chair Michelle Wright. “We kicked off the project at the November 2022 park board meeting with a presentation of what we wanted to achieve.”
In the end, Wright noted, the project included replacing the retaining wall, improving drainage on the side hill, making the playground area handicap accessible by removing the pea gravel and replacing it with a pour-in-place surface, making the parking lot a hard surface and connecting all the sidewalks.
Glenwood Mayor Angie Winquist thanked and congratulated the Kiwanis club for coordinating the improvments made to the city-owned park.
“On behalf of the City of Glenwood, thank you to the Kiwanis for all the incredible work you’ve done to improve Hiley Park,” she said during Friday’s festivities. “Your generosity, hard work and commitment to our community are truly appreciated.
“Today is a very special day as we celebrate the dedication of our handicap-accessible park. This project is a wonderful example of what can happen when a community comes together. Through the generosity of local donors, the support of grants and the sponsorship and very hard work from the Kiwanis Club, Hiley Park has been transformed into a place that our community can enjoy for many years to come.”
Winquist added that a park is more than a playground, benches and a green space.
“It is a place where families gather, children play, neighbors connect and memories are made,” the mayor said. “This will be a place for all of those things.”
The overhaul at the park was funded with the aid of four grants, six corporate donors, one community partnership, donations from the Hiley Family and money raised and contributed by the Kiwanis Club.
Grant dollars came from the Iowa West Foundation, Mills County Community Foundation, Kiwanis NE-IA District Foundation and Iowa DNR Land and Water Conservation. Corporate Donors included Glenwood State Bank, Black Hills Energy, First Interstate Bank, Mid-American Energy, Schildburg Construction and Jim Hughes Real Estate
The 42-year-old park is named after the late Dan Hiley, the first Glenwood Kiwanis Club president. The club has maintained and made improvements to the park for over four decades and hosts a free “Fun Fest” at the facility every September for neighborhood residents. This year’s Fun Fest took place after Friday’s playground dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony.