Shakopee Park revitalized

[Grute Man]

Here's an article about a park on the Mississippi in Shakopee.  They're getting a new boat launch etc etc etc.  read on.
Grute  ::

Shakopee marks 150 years with a new park that city leaders hope will turn more heads to the Minnesota River -- and the city's downtown.

By Sarah Lemagie, Star Tribune

Last update: June 26, 2007 ? 11:14 AM

Shakopee's paddleboat days are long over, and they aren't coming back -- not even for the city's 150th birthday.
When organizers looked into bringing a paddleboat up the Minnesota River for this weekend's sesquicentennial celebration, they were told that, because the river channel isn't dredged that far upstream, shallow water and other obstacles such as logs would make the trip unsafe.

Still, Shakopee hasn't forgotten its roots as a river town, and the city is marking its 150th anniversary with the reopening of a riverside park that leaders hope will bring more people downtown.

The new Huber Park features trails with river overlooks as well as a performance stage with terraced seating, a picnic shelter and a sledding hill.

The 23-acre park, once a downtown cornerstone where residents came to sled and skate, play football and softball, and even watch rodeos, had fallen on hard times by the 1980s, partly because of flooding. City leaders have envisioned a new park for decades, and volunteers built a new playground in 2005, about the time that plans for the renovation took off.

The $3.5 million project also includes a new boat launch and archery range on the north side of the river. The boat launch opened last fall, and the archery range should be done later this summer, said Mark Themig, Shakopee's parks and recreation director.

The new park is "an opportunity to reacquaint the public with the river," he said. Though the Minnesota River long served as a key trail for Native American tribes and, later, white settlers, its use by Shakopee residents today is pretty much limited to fishing, jet skiing and riverside activities at a few points.

Trails through the park connect with a Department of Natural Resources trail that planners hope will someday run from Fort Snelling to Le Sueur. For now -- once work on the Hwy. 41 bridge wraps up -- trail users will be able to travel from Murphy's Landing to downtown Chaska.

A string of band performances and other events are planned for Huber Park's new stage this summer, starting with sesquicentennial events such as the Chameleon Theatre Circle's production of "The Tempest."

Some city leaders hope the park will attract enough activity downtown to serve as an anchor for revitalization of First Avenue. The playground alone has boosted traffic, Themig said.

"We've had people come from other parts of Shakopee who said, 'Gosh, I never had a reason to come downtown, and now I do.' "


Sarah Lemagie ? 612-673-7557 ? slemagie@startribune.com