Vacation Park holds ribbon cutting event

BY Aprile McKinnon

The $2 million Vacation Park was officially opened Thursday at its Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.

The Canyon Lake Property Owners Association welcomed the community to the new park, which has had the Pump Track, its signature piece, open since August. The balance of the park was delayed in opening as a result of equipment being delayed because of pandemic-related supply chain issues.

“Today marks a special day in the history of our community,” Canyon Lake POA President Renee Griffiths said. “This park is a testament to our community‘s active lifestyle and huge improvement to our community experience and home values.”

Renee Griffiths and Marga Kidd cut the ribbon at Vacation Park last week. Photo by Mark Jones

Prior to cutting the ribbon, Renee said the community‘s original idea for the park all started with the community’s desire to have a pump track. She said the association is grateful to everyone who made the project possible.

Renee expressed her gratitude to the Canyon Lake City Council, Second District Supervisor Karen Spiegel‘s representative, Melania Castellanos, and State Senator Kelly Syarto‘s representative, Angelica Austin, for attending the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Renee also thanked Lynn Jensen, the POA assistant general manager, and Carrie Pratt, of the activities department, who promoted the idea of the pump track to the association in 2016.

During the ceremony, it was noted that Marga Kidd and her family were an integral part of getting the pump track on the Canyon Lake POA ballot. The Kidds later donated a park bench at the top of the park near the pump track through the POA’s bench program.

Members of the community, city, and POA staff worked tirelessly to make the project a reality, Renee said. Because of the project’s cost, the funding needed to be approved by a majority of Canyon Lake POA members. Renee ended her speech by thanking the 956 voters who voted in favor of funding the park.

The temporary name of the park project was Sierra Park North. The location was a piece of Canyon Lake POA owned land that was virtually unusable that sat north of the existing Sierra Park across Vacation Drive.

Most of the $2 million was spent on creating usable land out of slopes. Retaining walls were installed and usable space was created for the pump track, picnic areas, playground, walking and exercise paths and restrooms.