LEWISTON — The group hoping to resurrect Kennedy Park’s gazebo and bandstand are still about $28,000 short of their goal but hope to break ground this fall.
“We definitely want to bring this project to fruition, hopefully before the snow flies,” Heather Hunter, treasurer of the Kennedy Park Bandstand Restoration Committee, said.
The group has released new drawings of the proposed renovations.
The new plan calls for building a structure similar to the park’s 1925 gazebo, but shorter. The 1925 gazebo’s floor was about 5 feet off of the ground and the new gazebo floor will be about 2 feet off the ground. The old roof will be moved onto the new structure when the work is done.
“It’s been through all the city boards — Historical Preservation, the whole nine yards,” she said. “It is the final version.”
The gazebo has been closed and fenced off since 2010 due to safety concerns — damage to the concrete floor of the structure as well as erosion on the brick supports and wear on the wooden columns and the wood structure under the roof. City officials have spent that time, hoping to come up with thrifty way to renovate it.
The current plan to build a shorter bandstand will cost about $156,600, Hunter said. According to an agreement with the city, the group needs to raise at least half of the renovation costs to qualify for $75,000 in federal block grant money set aside by the City Council.
Hunter said the group is $28,512 short as of Friday afternoon and is still taking donations.
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- An artistic rendering of how an improved and shorter Kennedy Park Gazebo could look.
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