Scout leads park project

By

Local News

July 8, 2019 - 10:25 AM

Cannon Barney, 17, spearheaded efforts last week to add a new fire pit, bench seats and bistro lighting to the LaHarpe City Park before returning to his home in Michigan today. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

LAHARPE — Like his older brother before him, Cannon Barney is using his Scouting pursuits to help improve the LaHarpe City Park.

And like his older brother, young Barney will not get to stick around to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

Barney, grandson of LaHarpe residents Harry and Joyce Lee, spearheaded an Eagle Scout project to install a new fire pit and recreation area within the park.

He spent the latter parts of the Fourth of July week piecing together the fire ring, assembling a cinderblock bench and installing wiring for a string of lights that eventually will illuminate the entire area.

Barney finished the bulk of the work by Friday evening, but returns to his home in southern Michigan with the rest of his immediate family.

Such a practice has become common for the Barneys. Cannon’s older brother, Ridge, led the effort to construct LaHarpe’s zip line back in 2015, only to have to return home from Kansas just as the project completed.

But like his older sibling, Cannon carries no regrets, noting he’ll be back plenty of times to enjoy the new amenities.

“Back home in Michigan, my family and my friends and I just hang out around the fire pit,” he said. “It’s a great American pastime, getting together and sharing stories.”

With his father, Ryan, in the Air Force, the Barneys would frequently come to LaHarpe for extended stays when their father was deployed.

“We’d come here to the park and play a lot,” Barney recalled. “I knew I wanted to do my Eagle Scout project here.”

The idea’s genesis came about during recent conversations within the community about ways to improve LaHarpe’s park.

Former Thrive Allen County Community Engagement Director Damaris Kunkler noted the city had in its possession a pair of limestone rock boulders — donated from Monarch Cement in Humboldt — that the city wanted to use either for a monument sign or other decorative feature.

“It was Damaris’s idea to put the rocks in the park,” Harry Lee noted. “We thought it was a great idea.”

As sites for the boulders were investigated, Cannon saw a prime spot, a shaded area courtesy of a pair of large ash trees and an elm tree not far from the sand volleyball area.

Soon came the thought to add lighting — strings of decorative bistro-style light bulbs will be used — as well as the bench.

The bench is positioned so users can either huddle around the fire pit, or face the other direction to watch a spirited volleyball game. (Electric lights will be added to the volleyball area as well in the coming weeks.)

Related