Adults visiting the Ranier Park may soon have an alternative way to burn calories, aside from chasing kids around the playground.
Representatives of the Ranier Recreation Club are working to secure a $5,000 Koochiching Community Development Association grant to help purchase three pieces of adult, outdoor exercise equipment to install at the park.
Lindsey Goulet, Ranier Rec Club, said she spends many hours at the park with her 2-year-old son, Jasper. With the equipment, she said, she can use her “busy mom time” to stay active with her son.
The Ranier City Council Monday agreed to have Goulet move forward with the grant application. In addition, councilors pledged $425 toward the $8,175 project.
Wagner Construction, Goulet said, is expected to donate $1,000 to prepare the site for installation.
“The point is to make physical activity fun, easy and accessible, so it’s the normal thing to do,” Goulet said. “When it comes to health and fitness, no community in this county should be disadvantaged. It is empowering residents countywide to improve their health.”
Goulet's propsal outlined the key project elements:
- Creating a strong community social center by providing space and facilities for family, group and community gatherings.
- Providing an attractive and inviting public space that enhances the vitality and appeal to the Ranier business district as a place to recreate and participate in community events.
- Serving as a key visitor contact point, whereby tourists are left with a positive first impression of the community.
- Serving as an additional bike trailhead location for residents who live east of International Falls with the completion of the Gateway Corridor Project.
In addition, the proposal said, the city of Ranier is "committed to providing facilities, activities, and park lands to enrich the lives of citizens and tourists...including additional park amenities."
“Our park has very traditional equipment, so we’ve been trying to come up with a couple different elements for Rainer Park not found at other parks throughout out the county,” said Ranier Mayor Dennis Wagner in the grant proposal.
The equipment would be no cost to its users, and are steel-reinforced stations that can target and strength abs, quadriceps, biceps and other muscles just as effectively as gym equipment. The equipment is designed for young adults through seniors, according to the equipment manufacturer's website exerSkys.com.
“The whole concept is based on a free place to go exercise,” Wagner said. “Most people don’t have a gym membership or somewhere to go exercise, so we’re opening up to a majority of the population and giving them a free place to go work out.”
Goulet concluded that once the equipment is installed, the Ranier Rec Club plans to form partnerships with local fitness instructors to provide demonstrations for residents on how to safely and correctly use the equipment to improve their fitness.
