FOX LAKE — The City of Fox Lake officially unveiled the recently completed renovations to Clausen Park during the ribbon cutting celebration Saturday evening.
The renovations included a new restroom facility, new lake access docks and kayak launch, pavilion grill, new benches, and a state-of-the-art wheelchair accessible playground, including a sand pit with various built-in activities. New sidewalks were also put in connecting all the amenities.
Friends of Clausen Park Committee leader Becky Bussian held the honor of cutting the ribbon at the ceremony, which was held at 7PM.
“I’m just appreciative of the whole community that came together to do this, I can’t take credit for everything,” Bussian said. “It was everybody.”
Bussian originally led the campaign for renovations to Crocker Street Park in 2019, and when the City of Fox Lake began plans to renovate Clausen Park around the same time, she volunteered to help the project.
“It’s the culmination of a great community project that involved many different groups and supporters of Fox Lake,” said City of Fox Lake City Administrator Kelly Crombie. “The project has been going on for a number of years to get through the planning and construction. Through the DNR we got the DNR Stewardship grant to improve the water access, put in the restroom facility. The Friends of Clausen Park were especially instrumental in the playground. FLPO was instrumental in getting the boat slip for parking boats here. A lot of groups and partners came together to make this all happen.”
Most of the funding for the project came from a $315,000 Knowles-Nelson Stewardship grant from the Wisconsin DNR. They also raised money from the Beaver Dam Community Foundation and Ergo Bank of Fox Lake.
“It really turned out—everything fell into place and we’ve gotten a lot of compliments and we’re very happy with it,” said Mayor of Fox Lake Tom Bednarek. “Years ago, Fox Lake didn’t do anything, we were a retirement town. If you don’t build something for the young people and the kids to entertain, you’re going to remain a retirement town—and we didn’t want that, so we’re moving ahead. We’re really happy with where we are in Fox Lake.”
Fireworks that were postponed after rain on July 4 were also set off at 9PM over the lake.
The playground equipment was constructed in mid-July.
