Construction for the splash pad will start in the next few months.

“Just excited for the groundbreaking of the splash pad, which will break ground officially” Supervisor of Marketing and Community Development Layla Price-Bodkin said. “This was like the ceremony for it, and it’ll break ground in May (or) June.”

Price-Bodkin said the splash pad is one of the ways that Mayor Ronald Morrell Jr. intends to improve Marion.

“The mayor has been listening to the community on what they want to improve quality of life here, and that’s something that he can control,” Price-Bodkin said.

The project is for the benefit of younger Marion residents, both current and future.

“You’ve got to have stuff for younger kids, and when you start doing these kinds of amenities, it starts spurring traffic from people coming into town and wanting to be here” Director of Engineering Michael Graft said.

Construction will end towards the end of summer.

“I’m just excited and ready for it to be open in late August,” Graft said. 

The splash pad is intended to be an added benefit to families looking to relocate to Marion.

“I think this is an addition to our quality of life investment, and this is going to be able to attract and retain young families” Mayor Ronald Morrell said.

Another goal of the project is to improve the Mississinewa Riverwalk that runs through Marion.

“The idea is that along the entirety of our Riverwalk trail we’ll be able to have different hot zone hotspots and this will be one that is really catered to the next generation and their families” Morrell said.

Vendors from Upland and the nearby area came together to sell their crafts to the community and make connections.

“It’s really neat to see a lot of people from Upland and surrounding places come together” vendor Lindsay Crawford said. “You get to catch up with old friends, which is really fun. You can invite them to church here and just, you know, see how they’re doing.”

The fair gave crafters an opportunity to share their work with other locals.

“I wanted to try to get my book out to the community” self-published author Jessica Miller said. “Of course, you want your first readers to be where you live so I wanted to come out.”

The funds that Pierce Church collected are set to go towards their children and youth ministries.

“It’s typically a fundraiser for discounts for camp scholarships for our kids or youth ministry programs or for different outings” Pierce Church’s Director of Children’s Ministries, Kevin Duecker said. “If we’re going to go to Kings Island or something like that with the kids or the youth. We don’t ever want finances to be an obstacle for families that we’re ministering to. So, this is one way that we can raise money for that.”

Pierce Church fundraised by charging a vendor fee. Admission and parking were free for anyone who wanted to attend. 

“I love the idea that we’re helping the church and helping the church and helping the youth. And then I think it’s just a way of connecting” vendor Kim Kreischer said.

Crawford and Duecker lead the event together.

“She and I co-lead it together” Duecker said. “And so, I kind of do all the stuff that like I’m able to do on the church side. But because she’s also part of that community with the crafters, she’s able to connect with them and be like, hey, Pierce Church is doing this craft fair again.”

Pierce Church also fundraised by hosting a smoked meats lunch during the craft fair.

“We also have a lot of guys here in the church that love to do smoked meats” Duecker said. “So we do like a pulled pork lunch or a beef brisket lunch where those guys will get together, you know, like yesterday or the day before, you know, they’ll do the 12 hour smokes and smoke all the meats. And so there’s community getting built there.”

“Current one that we have, engine six there. It’s 22 years old. It’s done a lot.” Assistant Chief Tony Fox said.

The new fire truck will be ready in about a month as all the equipment arrives.

“It’s going to take us probably about 30 days to get all the equipment mounted and everything on it. There’s, there’s a lot of things you have to do on one” Fox said.

Private Blake Hancock said that thanks to the new truck, Marion’s Fire Station 6 will be more equipped to help its community.

“The purpose for the new truck is just to make sure that we can serve the citizens of Marion properly” Hancock said. “You know, we’ve had a great luck with this administration wanting to pour into this department, and for us, it’s looking to have the right tools to be able to serve the community as fast as we can, as effectively as we can.”

The fire truck will be put into operation once all the parts arrive.

“The equipment process is really important that the day goes into service it’s fully equipped. You know, these guys wait until they get everything together, so we’re not partial and piecing things together,” Hancock said.

Training is another part of getting a new truck.

“Before we even put, you know, a new truck in service. I mean, it’s new technology, so we got to get all our guys trained on it as well. We don’t want someone operating, you know, million dollar vehicle without, without being how to, you know, how to work it, where everything’s at. So, getting all 60 guys trained on the on how to work the equipment is another big thing.” Engineer Nathan Duke said.

The old truck will be kept as a backup.

“So this is phase one of probably a two phase to get us from attaching the Cardinal Greenway to the Riverwalk” City Engineering and Planning Director Mike Graft said. “So, next phase, we’re in conversations with how we’re going to do that. Now we’ll run across from 7^th Street where this one ends, which is down by the library and connect it back, probably to Boots Street, and then go north to where it attaches to the Riverwalk.”

This new bike trail received funding from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and locals.

“We did some crowdfunding through some locals that wanted to put some money into it. So, between that and some money that the city put together, we were able to get our grant through DNR, but were still quite a bit short” Graft said.

The project has a fund of around $1.8 million with some coming from the Lilly Endowment.

“So, we put our numbers together and was able to get a large part of the Lilly Endowment to add to the city’s numbers. So that put us at close to $1.8 million to do this” Graft said.

The purpose of the Lilly Endowment is to promote a connection between colleges and the community around them.

“It was a grant that they were giving last year to they was offering it to 27 colleges. 13 got it, and it was up to $25 million to enhance community. And it was to enhance community, but it was through relationship between local colleges and the community” Indiana Wesleyan’s Director of Community Collaboration and Engagement Keenan Davis said. “So, we use the grant to really improve the community in four different areas, work, live, play, learn. So, every project that we’re doing, we’re doing nine projects right now, and each one fits into, I can actually all fit into two categories of the four.”

The purpose of this bike trail is to bring Marion together.

“Ultimately this is here to connect the city of Marion. The big vision for this is that the whole entire city be connected ultimately to our Riverwalk” Mayor Ronald Morrel said.