ATASCADERO, Calif. – The City of Atascadero has announced the city's Lake Park Bandstand Project has won the 2012 Facility Design and Park Planning for California Park and Recreation Society's (CPRS) District 8. The city is in the finishing stages of reconstructing the bandstand, which is located next to the lake. The $120,000 project is scheduled to be completed by late spring 2013. When completed, it will be used for concerts, weddings and other community events. The original bandstand was built in the 1920's, but has since been demolished to make way for the new and improved structure. For more information, see story below.
Story provided by Lisa Cava/City of Atascadero
The City of Atascadero's Recreation Division is proud to announce that the California Park and Recreation Society's (CPRS) District 8 has selected the Atascadero Lake Park Bandstand Project to win the Facility Design and Park Planning Award for 2012.
The Atascadero Lake Park is the heart of the City of Atascadero with its beautiful lake, walking pathways, playground, sand volleyball court, large group picnic/BBQ areas, horseshoe pit, the Charles Paddock Zoo and the bandstand. The bandstand has been in place at the Atascadero Lake Park since the 1920's. It is located at the edge of Atascadero Lake, and has long served local residents and visitors very well. Many locals know the bandstand from various community events and the summer-time Concerts in the Park, which has over 500 attendees each Saturday throughout the summer.
Over the past four decades, the Atascadero Kiwanis members have built a new roof over the original structure, painted, upgraded the electrical, and in recent years doubled the size of the concrete platform. Unfortunately, the old structure was past its useful life, and was riddled with termites and deferred maintenance issues. The bandstand was not ADA Accessible and it also had inadequate electrical capacity for many of the amplified music events. In 2010, Atascadero Mayor O'Malley, also a Kiwanian, put out a challenge to the community to consider what projects could be done to benefit our community in time for our Centennial celebration in 2013. The Atascadero Kiwanis Club met that challenge by raising the funds and building a totally new bandstand at the Lake Park.
The old bandstand was completely demolished and the new structure is original from the foundation on up. Kiwanian Lon Allan chaired the Bandstand Committee that raised nearly $120,000 for the project. Mark Dariz, Kiwanis member and architect, designed the new bandstand, and fellow Kiwanian Paul Norton is the general contractor. The new bandstand is in the Craftsman style that will match the Lake Park Master Plan design standards, and will feature river rock and shiplap exterior siding. The maintenance will be minimized due to the type of construction: concrete, steel columns, Hardi-plank siding, new roofing, rock facing and heavy timber design.
Mayor O'Malley states, "Speaking both as a Kiwanian and as Mayor, we are very proud and pleased to have contributed a project such as this to the community and to have it completed just in time for our Centennial celebration; we are sure this new bandstand will serve as a wonderful event venue for the community well into the future".
The bandstand project is well underway and will be used not only for summer band concerts, but weddings, wine festivals and more. Construction began in 2012 and will be completed in late Spring 2013, in time not only for the community's Centennial celebration, but also for the annual Saturday in the Park Summer Concert Series and the annual Atascadero Wine Festival Event, which raises money for the Charles Paddock Zoo, as well as other local groups.
The CPRS District 8 Awards and Installation Banquet takes place on Friday, March 15th at the Pavilion on the Lake in Atascadero. The event will honor District 8 agencies that were selected for awards in specific categories, and will also install new District 8 Board Members for 2013, including the City of Atascadero's Jennifer Fanning. Registration is still being accepted for this fun evening, which will include dinner, drinks and awards presentation. CPRS's District 8 includes agencies all over the Central Coast and beyond, from Paso Robles down to Ojai.
For more information about the CPRS District 8 Banquet please call Jennifer Fanning, Recreation Supervisor with the City of Atascadero's Community Services Department at 805-470-3426 or email jfanning@atascadero.org.
