Families are already enjoying bouldering as Mount Baker Rotary builds out this new park
On sunny days after school lets out, the boulders in a new park inside Bender Fields are covered with kids.
The youths — ranging from elementary up to high school — climb up and down the three man-made boulders. Some jump off. Sometimes, adults climb them as well.
The new boulders are in a roughly 1-acre space that’s been described as a sports complex within the south part of the city of Lynden’s Bender Fields, which totals 56 acres.
A project of the Mount Baker Rotary Club in Lynden, there’s more to the complex than the climbing area.
When completed, perhaps in June, what’s now being called the Mount Baker Rotary Sports Park, will allow people to play beach volleyball, basketball and pickleball as well as outdoor chess with an oversized board and pieces.
The project also includes picnic seating and lighting for the pickleball and basketball courts, to extend playing time when the days darken early in fall and winter.
Jeff Roberts, president of the Mount Baker Rotary Club, sees it as one spot with a lot of things for families to do.
“It’s going to be a hub of activity,” Roberts said to The Bellingham Herald.
Bender already has a trail, off-leash dog park, and fields for soccer, baseball, softball and lacrosse as well as a cricket pitch. In addition to the Mount Baker Rotary Sports Park, a different group has proposed building a bicycle pump track within Bender.
The original estimate for the Mount Baker Rotary project was roughly $300,000.
But that price tag has climbed to about $400,000 with additions that included hardscaping such as stairs, more picnic areas, more bench areas, the chessboard with its 2-foot-tall chess pieces, and a third, large climbing boulder.
The boulder alone cost $20,000, according to Roberts.
“It really filled out the park, the space, better,” he said.
The third boulder is also more challenging than the other two, Roberts said, explaining that it flares out as it goes up so the climber has to lean back a little.
While there’s more to do with the project, Roberts was happy with the climbing area.
“No one imagined the climbing park turning out as nice as it did,” he said.
When the weather warms, the beach volleyball section will be installed.
Mount Baker Rotary Club also is raising the last $40,000 to $50,000 needed to finish the park.
When that’s done, crews will lay down the floors for the pickleball and basketball courts, Roberts said.
There will be a total of four pickleball courts, two basketball courts with NBA-style features and two streetball courts.
“The park’s going to be more expensive than we thought,” he said, “but it’s also going to be way nicer.”
To help
Donate and learn more about the Mount Baker Rotary Club’s $400,000 project to build basketball, sand volleyball and pickleball courts as well as a boulder-climbing area to Bender Fields in Lynden by going to its Facebook page and to mountbakerrotary.com.
The club is raising the remaining $40,000 to $50,000 to finish the project.
Project updates will be posted to its Facebook page.
Donations are tax-deductible.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
