Energize Lebo has done a lot of work in that category since it began over the past year, and the latest sign of that approach happened Sunday.
The town’s 138th annual birthday celebration featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the recently-renovated West Park area of Ye Ol’ City Park. Energize Lebo spokesperson Amanda Hopkins says the new playground, available to the public since late August, is a sign of things to come. Lebo is planning for what Hopkins calls a “multigenerational facility” to meet a range of community needs well into the future. Much of that has to do with repositioning the pool.
As part of the new sports complex, the softball field will trade space with the zero-entry pool, thus opening up an area for the new pool, more parking and a two-sided concession stand. The football field will be shifted to the southwest and all related amenities, including track, bleachers and press box, will be upgraded.
The park renovation, meanwhile, was donation-driven, whether from private funding, grants, in-kind offerings or discounts from contractors or construction businesses and existing city funds.
Lebo has been using a one-percent sales tax for park and swimming pool improvements the past five years. It is set to sunset next year but is on the city’s November ballot for a 10-year extension.
