Even during times of Covid-19, the Rotary Club of Yellowknife has continued to do upkeep and maintenance on the Rotary Centennial Waterfront Park and boardwalk area, helping to keep the community in good spirits.
“We built the park,” said Chuck Tolley, a 30-year member of the rotary park and boardwalk committee. “So we feel a responsibility to do the ongoing upkeep of it.”
Work started on the park and boardwalk, in 2003 and 2010 respectively. With regards to the boardwalk, it took eight years with volunteers over various summers to finish. However, there would still be work ahead afterwards, especially last year.
“(2020) was particularly difficult, or the last two years because of the COVID situation,” said Tolley. “We couldn’t get work parties together, like normally we would have, which has been a bit of a problem. But that’s just something we’ve had to deal with.”
Despite these issues, the Rotary Club of Yellowknife has managed to keep up with the workload to prevent both the park and boardwalk from downgrading.
“One of the things we have to do is cutting down on the willows along the edge, so that people do keep a good view,” said Tolley. “Some people said, ‘we shouldn’t be cutting down any trees,’ (but) willows are sort of almost like weeds in a way.”
Alongside the work, there are also updates to the park that help those using it on a day to day basis. These updates, such weather resistance boardwalk ramps, have come as a result of the Club’s partnership with the City.
“The city’s just been a wonderful partner,” said Tolley. “The whole project was built around this partnership with the city, they supplied the materials, we developed the plans and did the actual building, and so on. The City has been just super, just super.”
As well, a newly installed power box (which hasn’t been connected to a source yet) was an addition to the park that was a result of assistance from the City.
“We’ve always thought this would be a wonderful addition for the area to have power down here,” said Tolley. We just never thought it was going to be possible. Then, all of a sudden, this fall, we were able to do it.”
For all the work that the Club (and by extension the City) does, when responding to the positive community feedback, Tolley says “they don’t do it for the praise.”
“It’s really heartwarming,” he said. “I think the best thing to say is that we get a lot of good feedback. It makes you want to do more.”
With regards to future maintenance and other projects, Tolley says the club has a few things in mind, but nothing past the idea phase.
“When we built the boardwalk originally, because of some of the areas, we had built stairs,” said Tolley. “Well, that was impossible. So over the years, I think the city with us, built some ramps but the ramps have got to be redone, and made more accessible. They’re really quite steep right now. We’ve got to do something about getting (that) more in line.”
As well, the club has had the thought of extending the boardwalk, but that is a project for the future.
