The Elizabethton Kiwanis Club is moving forward with plans for additions to the Kiwanis Park, and is asking the public to help make those plans a reality.
The park will soon have a new pavilion in memory of a long-time member and a new restroom facility to make the park experience better for the public.
Part of the plan includes a new picnic pavilion honoring lifetime member Don Tetrick, who died in 2012. He was a member of the Elizabethton Kiwanis for 50 years.
The Tetrick family, including Jared Tetrick, Kiwanis president, and Bill and Richard Tetrick, Don’s sons, have been developing the plans for the pavilion.
Jared Tetrick, Don’s grandson, said the pavilion will be 50 feet by 25 feet and will have a kitchen and storage. He said the facility, which is still in its planning stages, would allow larger events to be held in Kiwanis Park. “The idea is to have something at the park to allow larger groups to use it,” Tetrick said. “There are a couple of pavilions already in place but they are smaller. The park, and the community, would benefit from a larger facility.”
Tetrick said the goal was to break ground on the new pavilion by Sept. 30, but said there was no timeline for completion after that.
He added that family members had agreed to take care of the funding and the club had agreed to name it in honor of Don Tetrick.
Kiwanis treasurer Jay Robbins said the club is also raising money to build a new handicap-accessible public restroom for the park. The facilities will be on the western side of the park.
The restroom will have a sidewalk leading up to it to meet the handicap accessibility requirements. When the facility is complete, it will be locked at night to help protect the building.
“There has never been a restroom at the park,” Robbins said. “It has always been something that is needed. The Kiwanis Club has been talking about it for some time, and has decided it’s time to move forward with this.”
The Elizabethton Kiwanis Club has set aside $5,000 for the bathrooms, but Robbins noted $5,000 more is needed to meet the estimated cost of $10,000 project cost.
That’s where the public’s help comes in.
Robbins said a gofundme.com account, http://www.gofundme.com/d8hoe4, had been set up to collect donations from the public. The account has received three donations totaling $270 toward the $5,000 goal. Robbins said donations can also be mailed to the Elizabethton Kiwanis Club, P.O. Box 401, Elizabethton, TN 37643.