On Friday, Dec. 6, the town of Dolores was awarded a significant sum of grant money from Great Outdoors Colorado to support its Revitalization of Joe Rowell Park project.
That day, GOCO gave out $8.7 million to towns and cities across Colorado to support projects geared toward expanding “outdoor recreation, stewardship of outdoor spaces, organizational planning and capacity, and land conservation.”
Of that money, Dolores was awarded $776, 845.
“That’s a lot of money for a little town like this,” said Dolores Town Manager Leigh Reeves. “It’s quite a feat.”
The whole goal is to better utilize “an underutilized 24-acre park in Dolores,” as explained in the town’s application for the grant.
To understand how best to use the space, the town consulted its community members.
Three years ago, Dolores put out a town survey, and its results influenced what the “face life of Joe Rowell Park” will look like, said Jacob Carloni, a member of the Parks Advisory Committee in Dolores.
“A whole bunch of ideas were thrown out there and the community voted on it. The number one thing that the community wanted to see overwhelmingly was a bike park,” Carloni said.
Already, there’s $106,762 of funds and in-kind donations to support The Lost Canyon Bike and Skate Park, Carloni said.
And of this new GOCO grant money, $475,000 will go toward the “all -wheeled space” for skateboarders, bikers and scooterers alike.
“Boggy is a big draw, so we’re bringing that down to the kid level,” said Reeves. “If you drive through town now, you’ll see all these little homemade ramps. I mean, I did that as a kid, make these ramps out of plywood and try not to kill myself.”
The skate park will be a safe place for the 730 kids in Dolores schools to go and play; the town also intends to welcome the greater community to play there, too.
“It’s not just about Dolores. It’s about the tribe, it’s about Cortez. It’s about bringing kids together,” Reeves said.
Carloni added, “Skating, biking, scootering … are super pro-social activities for kids. Being able to do that in a safe, responsible place that’s meant for that is just a really exciting thing.”
There’s also a pump track in the greater bike and skate park plan.
A pump track is a series of rollers and berms where a rider can use their momentum to pump their way through the track instead of pedaling or pushing, Carloni said.
The town has lined up a contractor called the American Ramp Company to do work on the skate park side of things starting in the fall next year.
Though there’s $581,762 set aside for the bike park – the sum of the new grant money and prior donations – the town still needs $155,000 to make it happen. Plus, it has to raise $225,000 for the pump track, Carloni said.
“It sounds like a pretty high number, like a daunting number, but I think with the amount of passion there is for this project in the community and the support there is … we’re pretty confident we’re going to get all three aspects,” Carloni said.
In fact, the most recent grant application was their third try for the GOCO money.
“Each and every time we failed, we went back to the community and said what new partnerships can we get, and how many more stakeholders can we bring in to be part of this and push for it,” Carloni said.
He remembered all the organizations who were willing to pitch in, from the Rico Trails Alliance to the Mancos Trails Group to the Ute Mountain Ute tribe to Kokopelli Bike & Board; the list goes on.
“Once the community got hold of this project, what kind of formed organically was a nonprofit that’s called the Lost Canyon Bike and Skate Park,” said Carloni. “They all pitched in and opened up their … what are those things that are contacts lists called?”
“Rolodex,” Reeves said.
“Their rolodexes for us,” Carloni said.
“That’s old school dude,” Reeves laughed.
Carloni said they were able to raise $30,000 in 35 days for the initial design part of the project, and is confident they can raise the remaining $380,000 to make all three parts of the bike park a reality.
Though the bike and skate park piece is undoubtedly a big part of Joe Rowell’s face-lift, the overall revitalization project includes more than that.
It includes two new shade structures around the existing playground, eight benches, three picnic tables, 36 trees with irrigation and 250 yards of ADA compliant walkways to connect the existing playground to the bike and skate park.
Plus, they’ll add a land acknowledgment plaque in English, Spanish, Diné and Ute and outdoor exercise equipment.
“We already have two pieces of equipment, we’ll buy three more,” said Reeves. “And Jake will install those.”
A Fishing is Fun grant from Colorado Parks and Wildlife is also part of this, and it will “enhance the river for better habitat for fish and economic benefit through tourism around fishing,” the town’s application said.
Reeves said they’ll look for additional grants to hopefully revamp the baseball part of the park, too, with a new scoreboard and lighting.
‘It’s really going to do great things for Dolores. It’s pretty cool for a town this small to have parks as amazing as we do,” Carloni said.
All donations to help Dolores realize this project are tax deductible. And more than just money helps curb costs- labor, time and resources (like asphalt, trucking, boulders, lumber, etc.) all help, Carloni said.
With questions or donations, reach out to lostcanyonbsp@gmail.com, or look at their website online at www.doloresbikeandskatepark.com.
