A new outdoor fitness area is one step closer to becoming part of Newport’s reimagined Festival Park.
The board of commissioners held a first reading on July 20, approving $154,000 worth of fitness equipment for Festival Park.
The equipment is part of the $8.5 million Festival Park project that the Newport Commission approved in February. Read about the full project here.
Newport Municipal Specialist Josh Tunning said Monday that the project is entering the permitting phase with the Army Corps of Engineers. He said the fitness equipment approval was coming before the commission now to avoid inflation.
The city received a $60,000 grant from UC Health to help fund the fitness equipment portion of the project. Tunning said the city is also partnering with the National Fitness Campaign to raise additional funds.
He said the equipment will mirror what is currently at Buena Vista Park in the city, but will be red to reflect the grant from UC Health.
“We do have some more funding in our bin to raise with private funders that we’re actively discussing with,” Tunning said. “We are very confident we’re going to raise that pretty quickly. The reason for the purchase order tonight is park equipment is not cheap, and we have learned that inflation is very real, and these prices are going up.”
Tunning said the $154,000 is the higher end of the funding spectrum.
Plans for the workout equipment included what is called a “studio piece” that’s an attachment that Tunning said acts like an open padded space for things like yoga in the park.
He anticipates that the equipment will be located closer to the Purple People Bridge side of the park.
“We get an awful lot of runners on that side of the park that come across the bridge, come down to the park, and we anticipate this being heavily used by that group of folks,” Tunning said.
Other key features of the park project approved during the February meeting include:
- Retaining wall
- Central plaza (for live performances and events)
- Water features, including a splash pad
- Landscaping and trees
- State-of-the-art playground
- Multi-use path (30-feet wide, for walking and biking)
“I think this is a real win for our constituents, and it gives the ability to have a nice workout and have a view of everything downtown across the river,” Newport Commissioner Mike Radwanski said.
