City Begins Work on Miller Park Renovation; Port to Continue Discussion On Storage Removal; Carnival Safety?

City Begins Work on Miller Park Renovation

Multiple city projects are in the works as the construction season begins in Florence.  In addition to the completion of the refurbished Siuslaw River Bridge, the new riverfront park along Rhododendron drive, and the ReVision Florence Streetscape project, the city has now begun work on the Miller Park concession stand and repairs to the fields.  City Manager Erin Reynolds says the work has already begun with the moving of the old concession stand.

“The existing snack shack has been movedt to make way for the new concession stand.  The snack shack is still operable over by the t-ball field and is serving for baseball game that are throughout the week.”

The planned time frame for the completion of the  new concession stand is late June.  Field upgrades will wait until after the soccer season.  Reynolds says the field that was once the location of the drive in movie theater still has remnants of the ridges from years of cars driving across the field.  The finished project will have a new soccer field and 2 softball fields according to Reynolds.

Port to Continue Discussion On Storage Removal

The port of Siuslaw will hold its monthly meeting on Wednesday.  The commissioners and port manager, David Huntington will continue their discussion on the proposed elimination of the blue storage buildings to provide more camping spaces.  Last month the board discussed the costs versus revenue benefit and are in discussion to determine the best way to move forward.  In previous meetings they discussed the possibility of securing a loan to demolish the building and install new campsites.  To which port commissioner Bill Meyer stated that the cost of the loan would be far less than the potential revenue the new campsites would generate.  They are also proposing an upgrade and utilities for the portion of the grounds noted as C-Row, but that will likely come following the current tourist season due to the disruption it would cause by trenching and general construction mess.  The board will meet at the port offices on Harbor Street at 7pm Wednesday.

Carnival Safety?

Rhody days is just about a month away which means that Old Town will be filled with tourists seeking fun and entertainment.  One of the big draws for the festival is the Carnival that sets up in the port parking lot.  On Monday, Davis Shows Northwest had an incident on one of its rides.  KTVL TV reported in Medford that a part from the popular Fireball ride dropped onto the platform while patrons were upside down on the ride.  Carnival owner Pat Davis said that it was a wheel assembly, and that nothing like that had ever happened before.  The ride had to be closed and a new part ordered.  The rides, according to Davis go through a stringent inspection process, not only by their own team, but by state approved inspectors from the Oregon Building Codes Division.  And that safety is their primary goal.  No one was injured in the incident and Davis said that they have a track record of being proactive rather than reactive when it comes to maintenance. Rhody Days is the third weekend in May.