15 years in the making, Ski Run Community Park groundbreaking celebration held

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The community came out in support of Ski Run Community Park on Sunday, celebrating the first scoops of the shovels in a family-oriented groundbreaking.

Almost fifteen years ago the Friends of Ski Run first came together with Teresa Bertrand and Dina Cole at the helm, creating a neighborhood business district along Ski Run Boulevard with many goals to tackle. One of those goals was figuring out what to do on the spot of the demolished Slalom Inn. The motel was demolished in 1999 after the Safeway Corporation purchased the building for use of the development rights on the site for their Johnson Blvd. store expansion.

Leadership Lake Tahoe attempted to get the park project off the ground with a big push about five years ago, but it wasn't until the relentless determination of Ski Run business owners Chris McNamara and Corey Rich to get the project onto paper. It took a lot of phone calls with Safeway to sell the .6-acre lot to Friends of Ski Run for the park. Now, in about two weeks, the first pieces of machinery will be seen along Ski Run between Willow and Spruce avenues.

"It took perseverance and to keep going when we were told 'no'," said McNamara.

The kickoff Sunday celebrated the work of Chris and Viktoria McNamara, Corey and Marina Rich, Galena and Lincoln Else, and Lauren and Wynn Ruju who purchased the lot from Safeway for $45,000 in June 2021 and donated it to the City of South Lake Tahoe for a park. A lot of work has since been done pro bono including landscape design work by Ben Fish, real estate agent Rene Brejc, who wrote the offer to Safeway for the land, as well as Michelle Larson, who is providing accounting services, attorney Marissa Fox and project manager Sarah Steele. Sierra Sustainable Builders will be working on the project.

Mayor Devin Middlebrook was one of those behind the project since its infancy and spoke to those who gathered for the groundbreaking.

"This is your park," he told the neighborhood families who came to enjoy a bouncy house, food, popsicles, and got a feel for what is to come.

Thirty-five kids from Bijou Elementary and the Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe drew sketches of how they envisioned the park, and elements from those drawings were incorporated into the park design.

The features coming will include an iconic play structure, a climbing boulder, a plaza and mural wall, and a large community table.

"I am really excited about the slide through rocks," said a smiling Kinsley Papandrea, age 8. "I am excited about the climbing spider," added her sister Adeline, age 6.

McNamara said the future climbing boulder (which will come with a $200,000 price tag) is one people can train on with "hopes of inspiring future climbers."

Even though the golden shovels turned the park dirt Sunday, some fundraising efforts are still needed to get everyone on the wish list completed:

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.

• $100 - Small engraved brick
• $200 - Medium engraved brick
• $500 - Large engraved brick
• $1,000 - Engraved bench plaque
• $5,000 - $15,000 Engraved place on donor recognition wall
• $25,000 and up - Naming rights for various park structures

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

If all goes as planned the first phase of the Ski Run Community Park will be open to the public this fall.