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PIERCETON - Weather couldn’t have been better Sunday for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the upgrades to the Pierceton-Washington Township Community Park.
The ceremony was rescheduled from last weekend due to the rain.
After the raising of the flag on the new flagpole by Taylor See and Adam Haegert, of 440 Dirt Co., and the pledge of allegiance, Pierceton Parks Board Chairwoman Carla Quintero spoke about the new amenities and the different people and organizations who played a part in making the additions happen.
She said, “The Pierceton Parks Board extends the deepest gratitude to the K21 (Health) Foundation and Thomas Kubacki for their vital support in funding and bringing brand-new pickleball courts, a freshened tennis court and an upgraded basketball court to the park. These additions provide the community with premier surfaces for both casual play and competitive sports.
In addition to the courts, Quintero said visitors can now enjoy a new nine-hole disc golf course, made possible by Keaton Cornell as an Eagle Scout project, “who dedicated immense time and effort into designing the course, raising the necessary funds and executing the final installation.”
Several local businesses and community figures also stepped up to enhance the park's infrastructure and aesthetics:
Quintero said 440 Dirt Co. and Infrastructure Development Solutions LLC, facilitated by See, handled the installation of the park's new flagpole. Pierceton Police Department officer Dustin Baker personally picked up and installed the new Park Rules Sign.
The Pierceton Chamber of Commerce members “are always attending and helping serve our community in every aspect,” she said, while Horizon Landscaping provided a “beautiful, generous donation of flowers to brighten the park's entrance and public spaces.”
The Pierceton Street Department received a special commendation from Quintero for “always being available and willing to help however and whenever possible.”
She said the transformation culminated in a highly successful community park work day, where more than 20 volunteers showed up - at least half of the Pierceton Volunteer Fire Department showed up that day also to help - giving up their Sunday to spread mulch, plant flowers and remove trash throughout the park.
Residents looking to get involved with the park project or volunteer are encouraged to reach out to the Parks Board or call Pierceton Clerk-Treasurer Myra Mast for details.
“The Pierceton-Washington Township Community Park is dedicated to providing safe, accessible and diverse recreational spaces for the residents of Kosciusko County. Managed by the Parks Board and Town Council, the park features two pickleball courts, one tennis court, one basketball court, the Barbara Faris Loop Trailway, a nine-hole disc golf course and community-driven amenities designed to foster health, wellness and community connection,” Quintero stated.
Pierceton Town Council President Glenn Hall noted they did have a $10,000 donation from the Kosciusko County Community Foundation included in all of that as well.
Asked what the park additions mean to the town, Hall said, “It’s an opportunity to expand our opportunities for families to come together. Just updating the park in general. This park has been here a long, long time, and over the years there have been groups that have done great things here, but it had just needed some freshening up and it was kind of getting into a state of disrepair. So now, it looks new, looks refreshed and it’s just great for the town to encourage people to get out, enjoy more activity, be more healthy and spend more family time.”
The park was established in 1976.
Hall said the planning for the new additions started back around 2023, but the private donation of $5,000 from Kubacki “kind of got it started to get pickleball courts, and then we applied for the grants with K21 and Kosciusko County Community Foundation and his donation kind of spurred things to get started.”
Faris, a local resident, donated money to the foundation to make the trails possible at the park.
Activities
The town would love to see more activities take place at the 17-acre park, Hall said.
“We have a beautiful amphitheater back here also. Our church, right here, Harvest Community Church, has done worship in the park here, but it’s also a great place,” he said. “So we would love to see some pickleball tournaments, some tennis tournaments, some more activities - maybe bands, concerts at the amphitheater. It’s just getting those things started.”
Hall said the park is kind of a hidden gem and a beautiful park.
“People who do come, I know since the pickleball courts have been open, we’ve had a lot of increased traffic and we love that,” he stated.
Quintero said she’s normally out at the park every Sunday. When pickleballers found out they were going to do a ribbon-cutting ceremony, she said they said, “Our hidden secret is going away!”
Because the nine-hole disc golf course is so new, Parks Board Advisor Georgia Tenney said it’ll eventually get a lot of use but she didn’t know if people knew they had one yet.
Quintero said Cleary Kosciusko recently just put the pickleball course on their website, so hopefully that will start spreading the word out to the rest of the disc golf community.
Everyone Welcome
Council Vice President Matt Brubaker said Washington Township does provide funds to the town of Pierceton for the park’s upkeep and events. “So it is Washington Township - town of Pierceton (park).”
Hall said they encourage anybody to use the park.
“I have met people from different counties that have been down here with their kids at the park because it is such a hidden gem,” Quintero said.
The park is behind Pierceton Elementary School along South Seventh Street. Tenney said the school makes use of the park. “In spring afternoons, they’ll bring a picnic lunch or they’ll bring their sack lunch, and they’ll come out here and they play. It’s easy to walk now that we have that sidewalk going up here, so it’s a good spot,” she said.
Pierceton Chamber of Commerce member Kelsea DeGaetano said the park additions mean a lot to the community and local businesses.
“I think it just, in general, gives our community another place to congregate and encourage people to visit. It gives people more opportunities to stay within the community, to get out and enjoy the outdoors, play a game, spend time with their families and all that,” she said. “It gives kids some place to come and play at the park or shoot some hoops.”
Future Plans
Quintero said there are some future plans for the park.
“We would like to repaint all of the playground equipment,” she said. “When you come into the park - kids are very visual and so ... I would like for it to be very bright and colorful where kids definitely want to come here and interact. And then, also, probably next spring, hopefully, we can revamp the amphitheater also because that needs a little revamping before we get, per se the high school band, come in and do a concert.”
She said there’s definitely interest in the amphitheater so they want to get it up and running and beautiful for the community.
Donations are always welcome.
Brubaker said Quintero and the Youth League Board are working on a grant to help beautify the fields, dug outs and concrete work. Quintero said the parks department is taking care of the painting project, and the Youth League is going to take care of the fields.
“We are the best place in the world to raise your kids. The schools are great. We have parks, we have festivals, we have things going on all the time. And I just think that Pierceton - I’ve been here in my same home for 57 years and I can not imagine being any place else,” Tenney stated.
Hall said he and his wife have lived in Pierceton for 40 years and they wouldn’t go anywhere else.
“We love it. Raised our kids here. We were just talking about a billboard sign we need to have replaced out by U.S. 30 and I would love to see a sign that said something like, ‘Welcome to Pierceton: The Greatest Small Town in Indiana,’ because that’s exactly how we feel,” he said.
Brubaker said he was born and raised in Pierceton and won’t go anywhere else.
“We’re hoping (the park) will bring in people from outside of the community and just see and realize what we have to offer over here, and hopefully that benefits businesses coming into town and things like that,” he said. “Then with our housing projects that are hopefully moving forward in the near future, it’ll make them want to come and live here.”
