STORY AND PHOTO
BY KEITH LIPPOLDT
klippoldt@gbtribune.com
Some projects are nearing completion while another is getting closer to decision time for the Great Bend Recreation Commission.
The outdoor basketball court that was recently built at Eisenhower School is almost ready for action while the golf course study is getting closer to completion. Both projects will be welcome additions to the Great Bend community and will undoubtedly receive heavy usage.
“The basketball court at Eisenhower school, they’re still making headway,” GBRC Executive Director Chris Umphres told the board members at Monday’s Board meeting. “There’s color on the court now and they’re putting lines down. They actually just stopped a little earlier on the lines. They have a few more to do, but with the rain coming, they thought they’d come back Tuesday, finish up a few lines on basketball and then shoot over to pickleball and knock those out. They will jump on that one as well while they’re in town. I also had a good conversation with Wheatland Electric. They’re going to put lights up. They’re going to work with us and put a flood light at the basketball court. That’ll save some money on that, too. It’s coming together.”
The court has been painted red and black with white stripes. A 10’ tall, black chain link fence has been erected around the court to contain the balls inside the fence. Additionally, shade structures, picnic tables, player benches, updates to the sand volleyball court, adjustable goals, new signage and a basketball sculpture will be in place. Some grass and dirt work will be completed as well to keep mud from shoes off the playing surface.
The court is a joint project between GBRC, USD 428 and the Kiwanis Club. Several other individuals and businesses made donations toward the project and will be recognized on a plaque at the facility.
No date has been set but there will be a grand opening celebration at the court.
Stone Ridge Golf Course
The City of Great Bend has been without a golf course for the better part of three years since Stone Ridge Golf Club, located just north of the city, closed down in 2022. With that in mind and knowing the excitement and potential visitors a public golf course could bring to Great Bend, the Great Bend Recreation Commission, along with the GBRC Board, voted to enter into an agreement with KemperSports, a golf course management company headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois at its July Board meeting.
It was announced then that the plans are contingent upon final donation and funding approval. At that time, a press release from GBRC Executive Director Chris Umphres stated the project is “currently in the planning and review stages and would bring a high-quality, publicly accessible, 18-hole golf facility to our community.”
Since that time, KemperSports has been onsite to study the course. “KemperSports has given us kind of a broad scope of the golf course on what we want to do. They have suggested we also bring in a golf course architect so the next step we’re looking at doing is actually getting an architect to draw some stuff up so we can have something in place.
“I hear that they (the public) want us just to get this thing open, but we don’t want it to be the same old thing that we’ve always had. I mean, there’s some excitement in it that we want to make sure that when we do this, we want to do it right. We want to make sure that this is for the long haul and not just open it and have it fail again. When we do this, we want to do it right and to put some pride into it. So we’ve talked to the architect. This guy was recommended through Kemper. He’ll actually go through every single hole. There’ll be some grading and different things on some holes. They’re going to maybe add some bunkers or hills or something like that. Obviously, the greens are the big topic right now. They’re all dead. So if we’re going to plant and redo some of that stuff, now is the time to either expand greens, or make them different shapes, We’re not golf course experts. When we have these kind of resources available to us, we want to make sure we do it right. This is the time we need to have an expert come in and do some of that.”
Some of the issues the architect must work out are course design, irrigation, moving an entry road and relocating the driving range.
The fee for the architect will cost GBRC $35,000 plus travel expenses. It was said that he would be on-site a couple of times and have a plan prepared by the end of the year.
The board voted to take on the architect contract by a vote of 5-0.
Dog Park
It was reported that GBRC will be adding some interactive items to the dog park. Wellness Director Megan Hammeke said that they have selected a couple of pieces of equipment that would fit inside the two areas of the park.
“There are two items we are looking at that would probably fit in the spaces they already have,” she said. “They’ve adjusted the dog park so there’s a small area, so like this piece with the bone would be able to fit into that area easily enough for them and not be a lot of work for the city to add to it. The other piece is like a tug of war. It’ll interact with the dogs, and then the dogs can jump through the other piece. We will look at getting those purchased this year so we can do a donation to the dog park like we said we were going to do.”
