Rotary Club of Haliburton member Ursula Devolin stands at the Skyline Park scenic overlook and points to the right towards the home she grew up in. A Beachli then, she said the family would drive up most autumns and pose for a family photo at the lookout.
Coming up a couple of years ago, when proposing Skyline Park as the club’s next big capital project, she said, “I just felt sad and that we can do so much better than this. It used to be so nice. The day I came up was dreary, there was garbage littered about, the stone barbecues were broken. I thought ‘it needs some love and care’.”
She said if people look at museum photos, or anybody’s old photos, you could see down to the high school, “so we just want to open it back up.”
They are doing far more than that, with the club undertaking an ambitious $300,000 to $400,000 improvement plan over the next three to four years.
The park is owned by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and designated a rest stop on the provincial highway. It was dedicated by Leslie M. Frost on June 20, 1958. The MTO maintains the park through a contract with a local company, but, “there has been little or no capital improvement during the past 65 years,” Rotary says.
Fundraising and community support needed
“The Rotary Club believes it needs repairs and a refresh so the community and tourists can continue to enjoy the park and the spectacular view.”
They have struck a Rotary Skyline Park project committee. It’s taken about two years to get an agreement with MTO to do the work. They consulted a local landscape company for a concept plan. The first phase involved removing dead and diseased trees, and concrete repairs to the existing viewing platform. On Oct. 7, four members were working to remove trees and brush in front of the platform, although all Rotarians are volunteering their time. If weather permits, they will begin grading this fall.
Other jobs include: extending the viewing lookout, creating a new upper viewing platform for people with mobility issues, building two new picnic pavilions with concrete pads and covered roofs, building year-round accessible washrooms to replace the seasonal toilets, providing new benches and picnic tables, improving paths using recycled asphalt, drawing parking lines and creating designated bus parking, installing display boards highlighting the community’s history and current attractions, improving safety, fencing and signs, and removing old stone BBQs.
Devolin and committee spokesperson Chuck Wheeler said the work will be done in stages as funds become available.
Wheeler said, “fundraising and community support will be an important part of this project. Though the club has funds allocated for a portion of the work, they will launch community fundraisers for specific phases for the capital improvement project.
“The club will also accept gifts of materials for the park.”
The club thanked the Haliburton County Development Corporation for funding; and Dysart et al and Haliburton County tourism for support.
In recent years, the Rotary Club of Haliburton has been involved in developments in Head Lake Park, and the band shelter, donations for new playground equipment, the skateboard park, welcome centre and more. The club is celebrating its 80th year.
