WABANA TOWNSHIP — When a community gathering space in Wabana Township started to show its age after 40 years, folks from the area came together to make it better.
In 2017 a group of people formed a committee to create a survey and find out what outdoor facilities people wanted. The next step was to raise the funds to make the changes. The fundraising was successful and included grants, a native plant sale, pancake breakfasts, a Christmas cookie sale and more.
New to Wabana Town Hall will be a kids’ ice rink, upgraded lighting, new pickleball courts, and an accessible walking trail around the perimeter of the building.
Longtime Wabana residents Donna Hartung and Kim Oja have been very involved in the project, from organizing fundraisers to planning to acquire gently used playground equipment. They recently joined us on the KAXE Morning Show.
Hartung said there will be two community builds next month for the hockey rink, because “You know that's important in Minnesota to be done before winter!”
Next spring, the plan is to create the pickleball and tennis courts and complete the walking trail. Wabana Township is located approximately 15 miles north of Grand Rapids.
Find out more about the project.
Do you know of a Bright Spot? Let us know!
-
Plus: Red Lake Band and Region Five Development Commission receive millions for energy projects; MnDOT reminds campaigners that signs are not allowed on right-of-ways; and the clean energy transition has sparked conversations about agricultural land use. -
Contributed/Lane Johnson, University of Minnesota Cloquet Forestry CenterFor millennia, the Great Lakes Anishinaabe used traditional fire practices to manage the forests of Northeastern Minnesota. Today, science is capturing the frequency and severity of those fires to understand how communities might recreate their relationship with the land.
