Coronavirus causes funding shortfall for Miracle Park. What will this mean?
COVID-19 won’t stop a miracle in Rock Hill. It could delay it some.
An email sent to Miracle Park supporters Monday states the park and playground project under construction in Rock Hill is $2 million short for its first phase. The message, signed by park executive director Kylie Carroll, states the funding is needed to open the park by the end of this year with the necessary part to make it fully accessible.
Ground broke on Miracle Park in December. The park between Cherry Road and Eden Terrace will have ballfields, multipurpose fields and playground areas designed for people of all physical and developmental abilities. The park will host special needs and typical sports league and other play.
The park already has $4 million of the $6 million for the first phase.
“Due to COVID-19, we had to cancel all fundraisers for spring and summer,” reads the message. “It is now looking like in-person fall fundraisers will not be possible either. If we do not raise the remaining $2 million, we will have to make cuts to phase one.”
Miracle Park is similar to the All Play Together effort in the Fort Mill and Tega Cay. After years of fundraising, All Play Together began work on an inclusive playground at Trailhead Park. Supporters of both projects say parks that can accommodate all ability levels are needed in the region. Supporters say Miracle Park will be unlike anything else in the country with its 15 acres of public-private partnership, fielding leagues and providing job opportunities.
Miracle Park was a key selling point in the city’s presentation for All-America City status, which Rock Hill earned last year.
Alice Williams Davis is part of the executive team for Miracle Park. Davis said $6 million for the first phase involves putting in infrastructure up front and creating play space. Buildings are a big cost and there could be a delay in getting some of them, including bathrooms, in place without the $2 million park leaders expected prior to coronavirus.
“Verbally they were really excited and they were ready to commit,” Davis said of potential donors. “Then with the pandemic that kind of stopped.”
Davis said one set of restrooms and some buildings still could go in, and others on the initial plan would still come. Plans all along involved phases. Coronavirus may just push some construction back to later phases. Park leaders are in talks with banks about financing options.
“We’re at a crucial point right now to where you have to make those decisions,” Davis said.
A playground should be installed in the next few weeks, she said, and a full field will go in soon. Anything pushed into a second phase would come after the end of this year.
“The whole plan that’s going in isn’t going to change,” Davis said.
Plans for now are to host spring sports leagues in 2021. Those plans could change based on park construction, or based on coronavirus, which cut off spring sports leagues throughout the region this year. Davis said park leaders are still high on plans that, until coronavirus came, fit so well together.
“This whole thing has been wonderful, almost divine really,” Davis said. “It’s going to set us apart from everything else.”
Significant public and private work have gone into making a park for everybody, she said. It may take some funding from new places, but optimism is high all that work will bring Rock Hill together.
“This is just that piece, that physical place to make that happen,” Davis said.
For more information, including on how to donate, visit miracleparkrockhill.com.
This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 5:19 PM.
