A bright spot on Greater Sudbury’s landscape just got a little brighter, with $444,891 in federal funding going toward the lighting of Kivi Park’s trails.
Various dignitaries gathered at the 480-acre park off of Long Lake Road in Sudbury’s South End to celebrate the FedNor funding announcement, which Kivi Park Community Foundation chair Bill Best said is being matched by private donations.
“Some very generous donors decided that lighting up the park was something they were interested in, so they put some dollars in as well to make the dollars go further,” he told Sudbury.com after the media conference, adding that these lights will help expand the lighting effort even further.
Today’s announcement of federal dollars will go toward lighting the parking lot and a 3.5-kilometre section of four-season multi-use trail.
Light poles have been installed throughout the affected area and solar lights have been placed on two kilometres of them so far, Kivi Park executive director Kerry Lamarche said, adding that they’re just waiting on the final shipment of lights to complete the project.
After the media conference, park volunteer and avid outdoorsman Perry Gauthier said it’s a worthy investment for the park, which he visits at least twice per week.
“For me, it’s the diversity of the property,” he said of what draws him to the area. “There are so many aspects to this property, starting right from the parking lot from a birch forest to an old growth on the side of Crowley, so you can make your way from here and within 28 minutes you’re at Crowley Lake.”
When you’re deep into the park, he said it feels like you’ve been dropped in the middle of nowhere, and yet you’re walking distance from a residential neighbourhood.
The lights will be a good addition to the area, he said, particularly during the winter months when people wake up for work when it’s dark outside and get home from work at the end of the day when it’s dark again.
“It really gets people out after work, it doesn’t give people that excuse anymore,” he said. “They can come out and do a couple of loops for exercise.”
As someone who lives off the grid, Gauthier said he’s also happy to see the lights are all solar powered, which is a more environmentally friendly means of lighting the area than hard-wired electricity.
The lights they’ve managed to install to date are a sign of positive things to come, he said, and light things up fairly well.
Today’s announcement was made by Liberal MPs Marc G. Serré (Nickel Belt) and Viviane Lapointe (Sudbury) and supported by Mayor Brian Bigger.
“We’re truly grateful to have a world-class park right here in our own backyard,” Bigger said, offering his thanks toward the federal government, FedNor and those who maintain the park.
Kivi Park is Sudbury’s largest park and includes 55 kilometres of trails, a 1.3-kilometre skating path, two large playgrounds, a soccer field, a basketball court, ice rink and a water sports complex at Crowley Lake.
The park was created by Lily Fielding. After Long Lake Public School closed in 2012 due to budget constraints, Lily purchased the land and donated it to Greater Sudbury. In 2016, she celebrated her 100th birthday by donating $1 million to purchase an additional 300 acres of land, which became Kivi Park. She later donated another 150 acres of acres of land, along with another donation of more than $2 million to continue to develop the park.
Kivi Park was named after Lily’s parents, Susanna and John Kivi, and the Finnish residents who originally settled in the Long Lake area of Greater Sudbury.
In 2019, the park board announced that user fees were being introduced to help fund its annual operational costs of approximately $200,000 per year, which received public backlash. A special fund was created to ensure that anyone who can’t afford a park pass can still access it.
Among the passes available for purchase are a single-day pass of $9, annual adult pass of $100 and annual youth pass of $50.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
