On one spooky afternoon, the city of North Liberty made progress toward its fundraising goal of $3.5 million as it continues to host community fundraisers for the progress of Centennial Park.
To achieve their fundraising goal, the city hosted Nightmare on Ale Street, a craft beer, cider, and wine-tasting fundraiser, on Saturday afternoon.
Centennial Park was originally purchased by the city in 2010 to secure green space for future growth, North Liberty Assistant Director of Community Relations Jillian Miller said. Over the years, it has been developed with parking, trails, and a playground.
In 2022, the city redefined the future of Centennial Park following a comprehensive community survey from 2021 and the recognition that North Liberty had doubled in size since 2010.
“We hear a lot of community impact input that they wanted more placemaking. They wanted more gathering spaces,” Miller said. “They wanted more investments in parks and really saw value in that.”
In total, the project will cost an estimated $16 million. The city has set a goal to raise $3.5 million in capital campaign support. They are currently at $2.4 million.
Construction of the park is set to happen in four phases, the first of which broke ground in July and will see the completion of the event center, amphitheater, exterior restrooms, expanded plaza space, and necessary utilities to support the future phases. Phase one is set to be complete by fall 2025, and the event center is accepting reservations from the public beginning in November 2025.
Phase two, which the city hopes to begin work on soon, includes a splash pad, an expanded playground with wheelchair-accessible playground equipment, and a shelter house.
Phase three will begin shortly after phase two’s completion and see the construction of a pavilion. It all concludes with phase four, an honor garden and additional parking.
“Even though there’s shovels in the ground, we haven’t reached our final goal for the entire vision of the park,” Miller said. “We’re consistently getting $50 gifts, $10 gifts, $500 gifts, $1,000 gifts from residents and businesses. It all adds up and it just makes this vision a shared effort.”
Nightmare on Ale Street, hosted at Centennial Park, served as a new fundraiser for capital campaign support. With 10 different alcohol vendors on site, attendees could spend their afternoon getting silly and spooky.
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Attendees were also invited to participate in the costume contest, competing for the funniest, scariest, and most original costumes, and they were even able to sign a beam on-site that will eventually be part of the event center.
As the event was held around the perimeter of the under-construction park, attendees could get a visual of the progress of phase one.
“Whatever amount we make, we’re just happy to have an event that gets people talking, gets people excited, and actually an event that we could bring them to the park and see the construction happening,” Miller said.
North Liberty resident Lori Frost recalls when Centennial Park was first purchased and under construction in 2010, and she was amazed by how far the park has come since then.
“It’ll be cool to have the amphitheater and entertainment, and I’m sure there will be even more growth,” Frost said.
Brandie Thein, Urban Acres Real Estate agent and event sponsor was on site checking attendees in and was excited to see the community support.
“I’m excited about this park,” she said. “I love any sort of outdoor entertainment, especially if there’s new live music involved. I’m really excited I could be a part of that. It’s fantastic.”