Rainbow Park closed for the summer for repairs

Project has to be done by December

What’s left of the pavilion at Rainbow Park, which collapsed this past winter under heavy snowfall and has sat in a wrecked state for months, will be removed from the site by the end of this week.

Lacy Construction has the contract to remove the wreckage and the town hopes to start constructing a replacement pavilion as soon as possible.
“Who is ultimately responsible for the damage and repairs is still up in the air,” said Crested Butte town manager Susan Parker. “But the town’s insurance company has told us it’s okay to start taking bids to rebuild it.”
Parker explained that several grants helped fund the project and if the project isn’t completed by the end of 2008, those funds would have to be refunded by the town. “We want to start something this summer and have it completed, in the most optimistic scenario, sometime this fall.”
While Parker had hoped to be at the point of sodding the park and having it open to the public in June, all that is now on hold. “It was going to be a nice, new focal point for the summer,” she said. “We still can’t have kids in the park. It’s a demolition project right now and once that’s done it will be a construction project. We can’t open it until it is safe and that won’t be for many months.”
The town may start laying sod for the soccer field from the east to stay out of the way of heavy equipment used in the rebuilding project, and if all goes perfectly, Parker said, soccer players might be able to use the field late this fall.
Rainbow Park is located on Eighth Street and Maroon and was initially opened to the public last October.