02-05-2025
Fall Creek says $50k Vibrant Spaces Grant will go towards outdoor amenities project
FALL CREEK — Fall Creek's outdoor amenities project has received a $50,000 Vibrant Spaces Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, with the money going towards a waterfront property being converted into a public space.
'This is all part of our broader effort in downtown Fall Creek,' said Jared McKee, Fall Creek public works director. 'We are building a new library; we were successful recipients of a $4.25 million grant by the Flexible Facilities Program through the state of Wisconsin designated for a public library community center.'
Fall Creek announced Wednesday they were a recipient of the grant. A total of 27 municipalities were awarded grants statewide.
'Wisconsin EDC has been wonderful to work with,' McKee said. 'Their staff was very helpful all along the way. They have been very supportive and I think this project has been a good fit for what they are trying to do. It is obviously something that we are very excited about — to be a recipient and to be a partner with them in trying to accomplish those goals.'
McKee said that the $4.25 million would only go towards the building. The WEDH grant is intended to go to a space roughly 3.25 acres that would house outdoor amenities like a pavilion, raised garden beds, trails accessible to people with disabilities and potentially more.
'We are putting up a new building which is wonderful, but we also want to make that accessible,' he said. 'We want to connect the downtown to that new library. We have quite a lot of green space and we are going to have some parking, but we want to be able to help people come in and use it in more of a park setting, so this Vibrant Spaces Grant is helping us with that.
'If funding is available, depending on how our capital campaign goes, we may also have an outdoor amphitheater there. All of these outdoor amenities we are hoping to really foster a sense of community for all groups, with school-aged students doing programming with the library and the raised beds to family events at the amphitheater… We think this is going to be a really great way to bring all of those different groups together in Fall Creek.'
McKee said a lot of the design process has already been accomplished, with the next big steps for the village being launching their capital campaign to see what additional funds they are able to raise and to open the bid on their library project.
'We are actually going out to bid for them (today),' he said. 'We anticipate those bids coming back on (May) 22, and groundbreaking has to take place no later than July 1.'
The project bid would include both the library and the outdoor recreational space.
From there, the village would be one step closer towards completing the project. McKee said in the coming months they are going to be awarding bids, executing contracts and getting people mobilized on the ground putting the structures up.
