September 12, 2019
The third and final phase of the current improvement plans for Ahrens/Paschall Memorial Park are to begin, creating a new entrance to the park, an additional exit out of the park and resurfacing parking lots.
In fall 2017, the Ahrens Park Foundation announced a $1 million multiphase, multiyear capital improvements project. Phase I was completed in May 2018 with the installation of two state-of-the-art playgrounds, and Phase II was completed this summer with the addition of pickleball courts and resurfacing of outdoor tennis and basketball courts.
The current entrance, adjacent to the Ahrens Family Center, will be reconfigured for center traffic use only. A new park entrance will be added just north of the current location.
“The new entrance will create a safer and visible entry for the park,” said Julie Gosselink, assistant treasurer of the Ahrens Park Foundation and CEO of the Claude W. and Dolly Ahrens Foundation (CDAF). “During times of high use, the current park entrance is a safety issue. The board recognized the need to relieve the traffic congestion when the park is full and active, and also to create an attractive, easily identified, permanent entrance.”
The new park exit will be located north of the new park entrance on Penrose St, between the soccer fields parking lot and the Foundation administrative office building.
Ahrens/Paschall Memorial Park is home to eight youth softball and baseball fields, two outdoor basketball courts, a tennis court, four pickleball courts, a sand volleyball court, three youth soccer fields, a golf driving range, several playground areas, three shelter houses, a sledding hill, community giving gardens, green spaces, and a 1.5 mile outdoor walking path. Also located at the park is the Ahrens Family Center, the Grinnell Athletic and Recreation Center, and the offices for the Claude W. and Dolly Ahrens Foundation, Ahrens Park Foundation, Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation, Imagine Grinnell, and LINK.
Gifts and pledges to the Ahrens Park Improvement Fund for current and future projects can be mailed to the Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation at P.O. Box 344, Grinnell, IA 50112, or by calling (641)-236-5518.
