ALMA – Plans for a covered multi-purpose pad at Wallace Cumming Park here have attracted considerable interest locally since proposed at a recent meeting of the local parks and recreation committee.
Also drawing attention has been a stunning concept image for the facility, created by Fergus resident Haley White.
White, a University of Guelph student studying landscape architecture, says she spent a great deal of her childhood in the Alma community.
“My grandparents (both sides) live in Alma and all my cousins live in Alma. So I spent a lot of time there, just hanging out with them and … played around the parks, the whole town basically,” she explained.
When White heard a group from the Alma Community Recreation Association, including long-time family friend Jim deBock, were working on plans for a covered rink/activity pad for the park she reached out to ask if she could play a role.
“I was always involved with town events and when I heard that Jim was looking for a (community) member to design the new rink, I wanted to get involved,” she told the Community News.
“He and I had a sit down and I kind of went over with him what they were looking for. And then I went from there with what I thought that the community would want to see,” she added.
Adept with design programs, White set out to create a digital rendering for the project.
Design may evolve
While she realizes her design, showing a gently curved timber roof over a snow-covered pad, may change as the project proceeds. She says she was happy to play a part.
“I’m not an architecture student, so I can’t actually make a building plan … I did a layout of what it would look like in the park … just to give the community an image of what could be.”
The association is proposing the project, which would include a refrigeration system, because an existing outdoor natural ice rink in the community often isn’t usable for much of the winter and a new facility could be used for everything from pickleball to performing arts.The project was unanimously supported at the June 17 meeting of Mapleton’s parks and recreation committee and accepted for information at the July 11 township council meeting.
The further presentation to council by the association is anticipated once further details have been worked out.
