Wannigan Regional Park Grand Opening June 18

By Robert Williams

Editor

What began as a community-driven need found in the 2019 Frazee Comprehensive Plan research is coming to a reality at the Grand Opening of the 157-acre nature based Wannigan Regional Park on Tuesday, June 18.

In the comp plan, research showed residents wanted to enhance the city beach and build awareness and access to area parks and trails. Participants noted access to rivers and lakes as one of the most important elements that make Frazee a great place to live.

Both of those improvements are currently happening in 2024.

“This is a huge celebration for us and the community,” Frazee Community Development Corporation (FCDC) Board Member Polly Andersen said.

Getting to the opening day of Wannigan Regional Park took seven years of hard work by a select group of people, who started making improvements to Frazee with the Event Center. Municipal improvements need a steady group, but more so, funding and FCDC created a path to attaining those dollars to make these things happen.

“I think of FCDC as the way we come together to accept funding; it’s just a steering group of people who passionately believe in the project,” said Andersen. “FCDC, as its first iteration, was a group of passionate people that believed in the project of the Event Center. They made the Event Center a reality and they did, very much, what we’re doing today, which is garner non-profit donations as well as funding to cover the building.”

There are people behind the people who make up FCDC and their reach goes beyond the planning group to the community in helping bring amenities to Frazee it has never had.

“We’ve got mentors behind us who shall remain nameless who are helping us with planning,” said Andersen. “I can’t overstate the word planning because we’re planning to be successful. You can’t work the plan unless you’ve got a plan. There’s a lot of quiet, behind the scenes, planning. The involvement of the entire community is really making it exciting and making things happen. We want people to come to the open house and provide their input.”

Andersen credited former City Administrator Denise Anderson, and former Mayors Hank Ludtke, Ken Miosek, along with a few others for getting the project going.

“Those three said yes, we can do this,” Andersen said. “There were key people in Frazee who understood and promoted the idea and who knew the funding was going to be a huge lift and require a lot of time. It’s just so massive what we’ve accomplished. I really think of this story of an arc where there was this huge lift and we met our challenge and now the future is really bright.”

Along with FCDC, the Wannigan Park Committee was formed in 2017 and completed the first and most important task to bring the park to fruition: purchasing the land.

“It took two years of negotiations between the landowner and the state of Minnesota to make that happen,” said Andersen. “It was two years of time commitment, strategizing, planning, raising money and risking our reputations. I think about that in a big way. As a working professional all my life, my work has spoken for itself. With huge risk comes the huge risk of failure but then comes this huge risk of success. It was the people who wrote the checks and the people who formed FCDC and their leadership and steering really drove the land transaction.”

During the entire process, the park has been bashed by naysayers and detractors in the community who did not believe in the project.

“They didn’t believe we deserved this amenity,” Andersen said. “The thing about a big risk like this is you’re either going to get stronger or you’re not. We got stronger.”

Denise Anderson brought the pursuit of a National Park Service grant to help pay for the park initial and master plan. 

“Once we got that we were off and running,” said Andersen.

The master plan was completed in December of 2020, with much of the work done during the pandemic. Later, the services of Holly Larson, Outdoor Recreation Planner at the National Park Service, helped put together the grant application that went to the legislature.

The combined efforts of everyone involved were rewarded this spring in the form of two grants. 

The first, $224,000, is to develop multi-use trails within Wannigan Regional Park, connecting through school property out to County Highway 29. 

In April of 2024, the MnDOT Alternative Transportation Program subcommittee recommended funding from region Four’s 2027 Transportation Program  be awarded to the City of Frazee to build a Trail from County Hwy 29 to Wannigan Regional Park. It  will pass near the ball fields on school grounds making them more accessible to the public as well as the park.

A month later, $662,880 was procured from the 2023 Active Transportation (AT) Infrastructure Program and allocated for Multi-Use Trail construction within Wannigan Regional Park for the City of Frazee. This trail will provide recreation options for hikers and bicyclists, with improved handicapped access, to amenities throughout the West side of the park.  

Andersen credited FCDC members Eric Anderson and Ashley Rennolet, who made the pitch of the project to the legislature, for their success in acquiring those funds, along with Karen Pifher, of Creating Community Consulting, who has been instrumental and provided valuable guidance and Landscape Architect Jillian reiner of Widseth and her team who put together the master plan.

“Without this level of planning it would have been impossible to get state and federal funding,” Andersen said.

The project also needs the help of working residents of Frazee and younger contributors.

“To see Eric and Ashley shine and lead and present themselves to the community as real movers and shakers, which they are, and now they get to show that off,” said Andersen. “From an alumni standpoint, growing our own leaders is so cool. This community has got it going on in spades. We’ve got some talent and they just need to soar, honestly.”

Andersen also cited a quote from Pifher on how patience pays off when working on a big project – “The quiet part takes time,” said Pifher.

All of that waiting comes to an end this month and plans moving forward circle around adding improvements and amenities.

Along with trails to and within the park, primitive camping and working toilets are the initial amenities that guests will see this year, along with one of Thomas Dambo’s trolls, which will certainly increase traffic to the park after the art exhibition officially opened this week.

Coming in 2025, the linking of three trails within the park: the Otter Tail River State Water Trail, the Heartland Trail and the North Country Scenic Trail. 

A fourth trail connection is possible with the Heart of Lakes Trail. Currently, it connects Pelican Rapids to Perham through Maplewood State Park, but plans include shooting north through Vergas to connect to Frazee and Wannigan Regional Park.

“It’s just so nice to be at this point and be realizing that this project is going to and it’s going to go big,” Andersen said.

Join the FCDC Board of Directors and Wannigan Park Committee for a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, June 18 from 4-6 p.m.

Follow the North River Loop drive to the assigned parking area near the main entrance. A short walk via the gravel path or the North Country Hiking trail will lead you to the celebration at the covered bridge. A short presentation will be followed with snacks and free Wannigan stickers, so bring your favorite reusable water bottle for some bling. 

Visitors are encouraged to stroll the North Country Trail as the sights are beautiful in the spring –  enjoy searching for Kingbirds, Orioles, Meadowlarks, Thrashers, and other wildlife. Take care and plan accordingly to protect yourself from ticks this hiking season.

In case of inclement, the ribbon cutting date may be moved to Thursday, June 27.