Ski Run Community Park block party and groundbreaking May 1

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The group of volunteers behind the creation and construction of the Ski Run Community Park has been busy designing and fundraising for the park. Construction is slated to start this spring with completion in the fall.

To kick things off a groundbreaking ceremony and block party will be held on Sunday, May 1 from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Things are getting close to meeting fundraising goals and some matching grant opportunities are available to take the project to the finish line.

South Tahoe Pay It Forward Project: $25,000 match. Thanks to South Tahoe High grad and longtime local John McDougall, any donation up to $250 will be matched. Donations can be made via the El Dorado Community Foundation.

Tahoe Fund - $75,000 match. Donations of any amount will be matched by The Tahoe Fund.

There are no parks within one-half mile of the Ski Run Boulevard neighborhood in South Lake Tahoe. This means the hundreds of children who live in the area have no safe place to play, run, and explore.

The Friends of Ski Run purchased the empty and fenced-off lot from the Safeway company and are building the Ski Run Community Park, a brand-new gathering place for kids and families. The park will feature an iconic play structure, a climbing boulder, a plaza and mural wall, and a large community table. Local partners like SOS Outreach, Barton Health, Heavenly Mountain Resort, and the League to Save Lake Tahoe will provide historical and environmental education signage, offer bilingual education workshops on exercise, health, and nutrition, and help organize neighborhood clean-ups.

This is a community-led effort. From the start, Friends of Ski Run worked to bring a new approach to park design by involving community members and partners throughout the process. Thirty-five kids from Bijou Elementary and the Boys and Girls Club drew sketches of how they envisioned the park, and elements from those drawings were incorporated into the park design.