The Showse Park Revitalization and Transformation Project Fundraiser was held on Saturday, September 14th and it did not disappoint!
Showse Park, which is located in VOL is commonly referred to by the Ward Four residence as Tiki Beach, is one of Vermilion’s three lakefront parks.
Showse park unfortunately, has had a rough couple years and fallen into states of disrepair. Recently the playground equipment was deemed dangerous and was removed by the Parks and Recreation department.
The aging basketball court and tennis courts are still functional, but are in bad need of an upgrade.
Jeff Lucas, Ward Four councilman platformed on transforming Showse park into something that not only Ward Four could be proud of, but a rival attraction to the well-funded Downtown Main St. Beach.
Councilman Lucas did not disappoint on Saturday when he overall the Showse Park Revitalization project fundraiser and a preliminary numbers are very impressive.
Here are the numbers that councilman Jeff Lucas gave Vermilion Daily:
“Kids Zone registered with Waivers for 72 individual families, between ages of 2-13 of which there was a grand total of 114 registered children… that does not include non-registered.” Brad Schwab was kind enough to donate the kids bounce houses and Kiwanis Club of Vermilion supplied air brushed tattoos and Trinity Gospel did facepainting for the kids.
Jeff goes on to say,
“Based on individual food unit purchases the two vendors sold approximately 375 units. If you consider a good portion of attendees did not purchase a meal let’s use 15% — that conservatively suggest we had at least 431 visitors.” Hawaiian Ice, Pavillion Grill and Touch of Grey Cafe were the Food Vendors at this event.
The fundraising was massively impressive according to councilman Lucas.
”Of the money collected only at Event … it does not include the many people and organizations who have expressed interest as they did not have checkbook present came out to $14,579!”
Jeff gave a statement on how he felt the fundraiser was received by everyone:
”The Showse Park Revitalization and Transformation project exceeding our expectation. The vibe was incredibly positive and one which spanned people from the West and East sides of the community to include Vermilion Township! The discussion included … when is the next time, let’s do this annually, how about Shows-e-Palooza couple of times a year? 3 big questions post event …. How do we donate, how do we get involved and how can we order shirts! We are blown away by the kindness of everyone! FUN was the primary vibe from the fundraiser!”
The Showse Park Revitalization Project has a three phase vision including a fitness trail, a brand new playground, new basketball, volleyball, and pickleball courts and a whole lot more.
If you would like to donate to the project or volunteer, you can contact Jeff Lucas Ward 4 Councilman at his email: jlucas@cityofvermilionohio gov.