Long-awaited Truman Waterfront Park has grand opening

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Newly-laid sod. Hundreds of plastic Easter eggs. And a lot of kids boisterously climbing on brand new playground equipment.

That was the scene Saturday, March 31, when the long-awaited Truman Waterfront Park had its grand opening. Attended by several city officials and dozens of children and parents drawn by a promised Easter egg hunt on the new park grounds after the official ribbon-cutting, the ceremony was an expertly planned civic outing.

That it didn’t go exactly like that didn’t matter a bit. The program listed several speakers including the mayor and all of the six city commissioners, who generally like to take the opportunity at a microphone to thank seemingly everyone in their district as well as contractors, sub-contractors and sub-sub-contractors. But the Easter egg hunt was the only things on the minds of the children, the future leaders of Key West.

The kids, who had lined up politely behind yellow police crime scene tape, eyed the hundreds of brightly-colored Easter eggs that had been laid out by staff from park contractor Charley Toppino & Sons. There they waited, many not as tall as the constraining yellow tape, counting the available eggs while the official speeches began behind them. Their patience lasted about five minutes. One bolted under the tape, starting a youthful stampede. In less time than Commissioner Billy Wardlow’s two-minute speech, the candy-filled eggs were gathered up.

“I think we found the patience limit of the kids,” laughed Key West City Manager Jim Scholl.

“Let’s enjoy the park. The kids are already starting to enjoy it,” Wardlow said, glancing behind him.

Speeches by the remaining city commissioners were uncharacteristically short, perhaps inspired by the attention span of the attending children. But the message was clear. Planning for the 32-acre park, which will cost approximately $27 million when it is finished, began over 20 years ago. The park is the largest budgeted, largest land area capital project ever undertaken in Key West.

“A lot of years and a lot of good people have brought us to this day,” said Commissioner Clayton Lopez. “This is merely one more step towards the future of our children and grandchildren.”

“The people of Key West have been waiting for over 20 years to enjoy this piece of land. Our community deserves this beautiful park,” said Mayor Craig Cates, who thanked a long list of people, saying, “In all of this time you never gave up and stayed focused.”

Despite the “grand opening,” the park is not completed, only Phase 1 of a two-phased project. The second phase will include building a new multi-purpose recreation field, concession stands next to the field, new police horse stables and horse run, public restrooms, a dog park and paved parking.

But Phase 1 has many of the park bells and whistles, including new roads and sidewalks, a new entrance to Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park, the children’s play area and, based on the response from Easter candy-gorged kids at the opening, a very popular water feature that drew pretty much every attending child into its wet grasp.

The splash pad, literally and figuratively pretty cool, has several different water features, including a water-soaked slide that can accommodate several children at once, jets of water coming up from the pad and a bucket hung high that tipped over as it filled, drenching the children below. Located next to the Coast Guard vessel Ingham, the splash pad received an enthusiastic thumbs up by its inaugural occupants.

“Alright, are you ready,” asked one father of his small daughter wearing a bright orange bathing suit. He took her by the hand and led her over to one of the water jets. “Let’s play.”

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