(Atlantic) Mollett Park in Atlantic is home to ten new fruit trees thanks to a donation from Rolling Hills Bank and Trust.
BJ Hart, with Rolling Hills Bank and Trust, said that a couple of years ago, during a Chamber Ambassadors meeting, the group discussed the large number of trees that had died in the local parks. That conversation got him thinking. Since the bank is always looking for ways to give back to the community, they reached out to Jeff Christensen of Atlantic Parks and Recreation to talk about creating a community orchard.
Hart said some of the initial trees they planted did not survive, so the bank made another donation to replace at least 15 trees.
The trees planted at Mollett Park included two Evans Bali Cherry, two Yellow Transparent Apple, a Liberty Apple, Honeycrisp Apple, KinderKrisp Apple, Norland Apple, Mount Royal Plum, and Bailey Hardy Peach.
Mollett Park also has raised garden beds that are available for rent, while all other fruit trees and bushes are open for the public to enjoy.
Jeff Christensen, Parks and Recreation Coordinator, said anyone interested in donating trees for any of the parks can contact him.
Christensen thanked Rolling Hills Bank and Trust for their donation as well as the Master Gardeners and Cass County ISU Extension for all of their help with Mollett Park.
Kate Olson, Cass County ISU Extension Director, provided some history on Mollett Park:
In a 2018 local foods assessment effort, community gardens were identified as an area of opportunity and interest in Cass County. Mollett Park in Atlantic was identified as one of several ideal locations for this project due to the location in town, the fact that previous projects had not addressed the park, and the department was looking to get more public use of the park at the time. As part of this project, a rough sketch of the park was drafted by the ISU Community Design team outlining possible options for installing public access and edible landscaping features.
For several years after that different parks directors and community groups installed many different features including raised garden beds for public rental, an improved paved pathway, and several fruit tree plantings, among other things.
The opportunity arose in the Fall of 2022 to write a Wellmark grant to expand several projects at Mollett Park. Excerpt from the grant application:
This project will increase access to healthy foods at Mollett Park by expanding edible landscaping, community gardens, and related facilities and providing more educational signage and other education opportunities. The project will repair and increase the number of raised community garden beds, provide for more fruit and other edible produce, and install a produce sharing stand as well as additional signage on growing, harvesting, and consuming produce. Partners include Cass County Extension, Master Gardeners, Grow Another Row, Lions Club and Cass County Local Food Policy Council.
This is a multi-year grant. “We have completed the first two years by updating all of the raised beds, installing a produce sharing stand, installing an informational kiosk and planting several fruit trees and berry bush patches. In addition, mid- project we identified a need for a more concrete plan for the whole park, so we contracted with the ISU Community Design team to update and add detail to their original plan created in 2018- we received this final design back in November of 2023. In the past year we have worked to complete the project, installing a garden shed, a second round of berry bush plantings, and hosting several educational events in the park.”
“During the planning and design process, involving several local stakeholder groups, we identified the need for additional water hydrants to allow our volunteers to more easily and efficiently water our many newly-planted trees and bushes. We had great community support and received additional funding to complete this goal in late 2024. Now in the final year of the grant, we have recently installed pollinator plots to support our food plants, and are working on educational signage and the final installation of an herb bed in the park. We enjoy all the community support and encouragement we have received from neighbors to the park and across Atlantic as we have continue to add amenities to make this a fully functioning edible landscape!”
