ARARAT’S skate park’s upgrade is about $2000 closer to completion thanks to a raffle with major prizes donated by Gason and Lardner Bros.
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Ticket sales from the raffle, drawn outside the Gason factory on Friday afternoon, will towards installing a new ‘bowl’ at the park in which users can perform tricks.
The first prize was an indoor wood-burning heater and the second prize was a $100 Lardner voucher.
Ararat Rural City councillor Gwenda Allgood said she was grateful for the support.
“It’s really important in a small community like this that we work towards our youth, and that’s what we are trying to achieve with this project,” she said.
“It has been a great partnership.”
The revamped Bill Waterson Skate Park will include a precinct for recreational and fitness activities.
Cr Allgood said the project had received money from the federal government to put up a new shade cloth and part of an ongoing fundraising effort for the project.
“We have had cake stalls and all sorts of things, donations from the service clubs,” she said.
“We’re getting close to about $170,000 towards to project. Ararat Rural City has said we’ll need a lot more to do the whole area.
“If we can build on that as we go along, that will be fantastic as it will go right through the area, which needs to be beautified as it is straight across from Alexandra Gardens.”
Cr Allgood said a new walking track would improve the area for families and provide an outdoor activity area right in the centre of town.
Gason’s Ararat factory manufactures heaters, broad-acre farm machinery and subcontracted laser cutting.
Gason managing director Terry Pye said he donated the first prize because the upgraded skate park would be good for the community.
“It’s good to have young people able to get involved in worthwhile leisure exercises instead of spending time on the street.
“They can redirect their attention to something positive rather than negative.
“Gason does a lot of charitable work for the community and this is just another example.”