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Karen Garcia/Turnagain Times The Jeff Nissman Pavilion was completed this month. With Girdwood’s new campground, Forest Fair Park now offers overnight camping and a venue for cook-outs and other outdoor activities. |
By Karen Garcia
Turnagain Times Correspondent
In addition to its baseball diamond, skateboarding park, and playground, Forest Fair Park now includes two more family-friendly, outdoor-oriented venues: a campground and picnic pavilion.
The 18-site, handicap-accessible campground and Jeff Nissman Pavilion were both entirely constructed by volunteers, with many of those participants working for the Forest Fair Committee.
Girdwood had not been host to a permanent campground for more than twenty years when the Forest Fair Committee decided it would shoulder the responsibility of building a camping facility for the community.
The campground construction began two years ago in 2007 and underwent several studies conducted by the University of Alaska Anchorage. It opened to the public in May of 2008, boasting several accommodations to make handicap camping a more comfortable experience.
For instance, one handicap site features what some refer to as “the mattress”: a 20-inch high raised platform filled with tightly packed gravel to allow wheelchair-bound people to set up their own tents.
Another unique characteristic of the campground is its exceptionally wide, well-maintained paths, intended to allow for smooth passage via wheelchair. SAGA AmeriCorps was a part of the path-cutting effort, in addition to the committee volunteers.
“I talked to a couple of people in wheelchairs and they said it works great,” said Tommy O’Malley, spokesman for the FFC, whose role it was to obtain grants for the campground and organize volunteers.
“The Forest Fair Committee is just nuts about accessibility,” he added.
Besides O’Malley, another person who was instrumental in the development of the campground was Alison Rein, who works for the US Forest Service Glacier Ranger District in Girdwood laying out campgrounds, trails, trailheads, and recreational facilities.
“Tommy was kind of the mastermind behind the whole thing,” said Rein. “I helped him with the layout and coming up with a way to make a handicap-accessible tent site.”
During this year’s Forest Fair, the campground was reserved primarily for vendors and handicapped individuals. Ordinarily, though, the campground is open to anyone, and is $10 per night and utilizes a self-registration system.
Located right near the campground is the Forest Fair Park’s other recent addition—the Nissman Pavilion—a post-and-beam constructed picnic venue complete with a designated fire pit.
The pavilion is dedicated to and named after Jeff Nissman, who was killed five years ago from falling ice off a rooftop in Portage Valley while working for the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center.
Approximately $15,000 to $20,000 was amassed in donations to the Nissman family.
Carl Skustad, a good friend and work partner of Nissman, thought that a pavilion would be a worthwhile project, and the family agreed to donate the money toward construction of the pavilion.
“I knew what we wanted to build and I contacted Jake Thompson, a local timber framer, to be the general contractor,” said Skustad. “He stepped up to the plate, and we did it all with volunteer hours.”
Two weeks ago, stone pylons were constructed at the base of the pavilion’s support beams.
“As soon as those rock pylons are done, then we have two barbecues to finish, and then we’ll call it done,” said Skustad. He said the two barbecues should be completed by the end of the summer.
The structure, which ended up costing $30,000, was paid for by both the family’s donations as well as grants from the Girdwood Parks and Recreation Department.
“It’s used all the time,” said O’Malley, who was in charge of obtaining grants for the project. “It’s right across from the baseball field, so people use it for kids’ birthday parties.”
While it is mainly used on a first-come, first-serve basis, the Nissman Pavilion can be rented out for larger parties and events through the Girdwood Parks and Recreation Department.