$850,000 in provincial funding is flowing to Nipissing.

MPP Vic Fedeli announced the Heritage Fund money on Monday.

It includes 150-thousand for the Splash Pad project — the site of the announcement.

This means there’ll be enough funding for the $650,000 project with construction to start this week and a planned end of July opening.

Both local rotary clubs have raised $125,000. there’s been a lot of community support and the city has contributed $80,000.

Maria Maille is the president of the Rotary Club of Nipissing.

“To have a community project in our own community where children can come and play and be safe and enjoy what’s available is really important to us. We celebrate all the things we do around the world. But this is something we can celebrate on the home front,” she says.

Fedeli says both local rotary clubs have been working on this project for 12 years and they deserve much of the credit for raising funds for this but other projects too.

“When you think about the trails through the city it’s the service clubs. When you think about the hospice it’s the service clubs that have all come through with a big commitment in their fundraising. A big return to the community and that’s worth more than gold,” Fedeli says.

The splash pad will be built in two phases.

Phase one will include site prep, installation of the equipment and work on the washrooms while phase two will include picnic shelters, benches and the completion of the landscaping work.

Fedeli also says 400-thousand announced is for Haskins Industrial to expand and purchase new equipment, 200-thousand for Gateway City Brewery for it’s microbrewery and nearly 100-thousand for the North Bay Area Museum Society.

They will undertake a site assessment of the former underground NORAD complex to make it a world-wide heritage preservation facility.

(photo by station staff)

Filed under: mpp-vic-fedeli, rotary-clubs, splash-pad