PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, JUNE 19, 2015
Stitt happy to see Big Toy happen
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Today in History
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of
conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, are
executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. Both
refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their
innocence right up to the time of their deaths, by the
electric chair.
— June 19, 1953
Food 4 Thought
“No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all
his accomplices.”
— Edward R. Murrow
The Month Ahead
Friday, June 19
106th annual Sangerfest Grand Concert, 7 p.m., West Salem
High School Auditorium. Pacifi c Coast Norwegian Singers
and the Thorsmen Norwegian Male Chorus of Salem. Tickets
are $10, available at Music! Music! on Market Street and at
the door. pcnsa.org.
Saturday, June 20
Oregon Forest Fair, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Chemeketa Community
College in Salem. Expo and educational event is free and
open to the public. www.oswa.org
Bark for Life, 8 a.m.-noon, Keizer Rapids Park. One mile and
5K fun walk/run event for dogs and their owners to raise
money for the American Cancer Society. After the walk/run,
there will be demonstrations, silent auction, doggie fashion
show, games and food. bfl ofsalemkeizer.com.
Tuesday, June 23
Public Services Fair hosted by Keizer Public Works, noon to 5
p.m. at Keizer Rapids Park. Free, food for fi rst 300 attendees.
Music and exhibits.
Keizer Public Arts Commission meeting, 6 p.m. in council
chambers at Keizer Civic Center.
Saturday, June 27
The Oregon Spirit Chorus presents two performances of
Barbershop & Bluegrass in the auditorium at Chemeketa
Community College. Show are at 2 p.m. (tickets are $15) and
7 p.m. (tickets are $20 for the evening show). For tickets visit
www.oregonspirit.org or email tickets@oregonspirit.org.
Kimberly Hall and Friends, concert at Keizer Rotary
Amphitheatre at Keizer Rapids Park, 6 p.m. Free. The
evening is a thank you to the Big Toy volunteers, donors and
sponsors. kraorg.com.
Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28
The 18th annual World Beat at Salem’s Riverfront Park.
Monday, July 1
Claggett Creek Watershed Council meeting, 5:30 to 7 p.m. at
Keizer Civic Center.
Saturday, July 11
He’s back! Patrick Lamb in concert at Keizer Rotary
Amphitheater at Keizer Rapids Park, 6 p.m. Free. kraorg.com.
Friday, July 17
Loafers, all-city class reunion open to public, at Keizer
Rotary Amphitheater at Keizer Rapids Park, 6:30 p.m. Free.
kraorg.com.
Saturday, July 18
Johnny Limbo & the Lugnuts at Keizer Rotary Amphitheater
at Keizer Rapids Park, 6:30 p.m. Free. kraorg.com.
Saturday, July 18 – Sunday, July 19
Canterbury Renaissance Faire, 6118 Mt. Angel Highway. A
two-weekend festival celebrating the Elizabethan Era. Event
includes knights jousting and battling, period costumes and
events, dances, shopping and more. Admission ranges from
$11 to $24. Free parking. Continues following weekend,
July 25-26. For information and advance tickets visit
canterburyfaire.com.
Thursday, July 23 – Saturday, July 25
Shakespeare in the Park: A Midsummer Night’s Dream at
Keizer Rotary Amphitheater at Keizer Rapids Park, 6:30 p.m.
Free. kraorg.com.
Saturday, August 1
Magical Mystery Four, Beatles cover band, at Keizer Rotary
Amphitheater at Keizer Rapids Park, 6:30 p.m. Free.
kraorg.com.
Saturday, August 8
RIVERfair featuring Brady Goss at Keizer Rotary Amphitheater
at Keizer Rapids Park, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with Goss concert
starting at 6:00 p.m. Free. riverfairkeizer.com.
Add your event by e-mailing news@keizertimes.com.
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Will Stitt’s son had to wait
nearly a year.
Before Liam Stitt turned 6
last September, dad fi gured he
had the perfect present: a new
playground at Keizer Rapids
Park called the Big Toy.
While such a structure was
already in the park’s master
plan, it was Will Stitt who
pushed the idea forward in
late 2012. He presented some
ideas to Bill Lawyer, Public
Works director for Keizer.
Lawyer encouraged Stitt to
attend a Keizer Parks and
Recreation Advisory Board
meeting in November 2012.
Stitt did and proposed some
ideas, including research he
had done.
The following spring, it was
decided the Big Toy would be
built in September 2014. Lat-
er, a new site within the park
was selected, necessitating a
delay to this month.
“It was very disappoint-
ing because we could have
had this done last September,
which would have been right
around my son’s birthday,” Stitt
said June 12. “I had told him,
‘It looks like you’re getting
a new playground for your
birthday.’ But I think this is a
great site and it will work real-
ly well. Yeah, it’s disappointing,
but now that’s all gone and it’s
just the excitement about how
close we really are.”
Stitt was part of a group
of volunteers that showed up
each day to build the 15,000
square foot play structure.
When the building actually
started June 10, the plan was
to have 150 volunteers per
shift, three shifts per day, get-
ting done in time for a soft
opening at 5 p.m. Sunday, June
14. A delay pushed the open-
ing back to June 20.
Last Friday, Stitt talked
about getting the project start-
ed. He has been credited as the
person who truly helped get
the project going. What’s tell-
ing is how he started his re-
sponse.
“First of all, if I hadn’t,
someone would have come up
with the idea so I don’t know
if I can take much credit for
this,” he said.
A look at the history, how-
ever, shows why Stitt gets the
credit. With the birth of his
fi rst son (now 6, while his
younger son is 4), Stitt looked
around for big play structures.
“I had looked at other cit-
ies like Lincoln City and As-
toria that had really cool big
play structures,” he said as the
sounds of construction fi lled
the background. “I really liked
those. I was looking around
Salem/Keizer for those and
we really didn’t have anything
like that.”
Stitt looked around at more
big structures and noticed a
similar style. Then he visited a
friend in Oak Harbor, Wash.,
a city that had just put in a
play structure with help from
consultant Leathers and Asso-
ciates.
“They went into the
schools, the got a lot of in-
put from the community and
(my friend) was telling me it
sounded like a great idea,” Stitt
said. “It seemed like a really
good fi t for Keizer Rapids.
If we were going to put in a
big playground in, this was the
place we were going to do it.”
Stitt got some information
from Oak Harbor and called
up Leathers for some infor-
mation. He then contacted
Lawyer.
Stitt emphasized while that
research may have helped get
the warm response, there was
more.
“I think what’s more im-
portant is there was already
KEIZERTIMES fi le/Craig Murphy
Will Stitt (left) introduces his sons to Meredith Coy’s daughters
after the Big Toy design day in November 2013 at Keizer Civic
Center. Stitt brought the idea to the city a year earlier.
the desire to do something re-
ally unique and special here,”
he said. “That didn’t come
from me. That was there from
Rich Walsh and a lot of other
people on the board that re-
ally wanted to do something
unique. Rich said that he had
seen a playground (in Lincoln
City) and he knew he wanted
to do something like that. That
just happened to be a Leathers
project.”
In late 2013, Leathers de-
signer picked the “Big Tree”
site near the boat ramp and
more than 3,000 Keizer stu-
dents submitted design ideas.
In January 2014, then-mayor
Lore Christopher suggested a
move to the fi lbert orchards in
KRP, which were not in the
city’s Urban Growth Bound-
ary at the time of the sug-
gestion. Going through that
process meant delaying the
project nine months.
Stitt, whose family com-
mitments forced him to leave
the Community Build Task
Force last year, was just happy
for the build dates to fi nally
arrive.
“It’s incredible,” he said of
the building process. “You’re
assigned to a little team and
you’re working. I’ve been
working with a group of six
to eight guys and we’re work-
ing in our little area. You get
focused on working on that.
You’ve got your head down
for two or three hours. Then
you look up and you look
around and things are chang-
ing all around you. It’s incred-
ible how fast things are really
changing. It’s really exciting
just to see everything change
so fast.”
Stitt noted his sons missed
being able to help dad build
like they do at home, but they
were at the daycare run by
Shelly Paddock while the vol-
unteers build the Big Toy.
Given his involvement
with the start of the project,
did Stitt expect his sons to be
among the fi rst on the play-
ground once complete?
“I expect me to be one of
the fi rst on the playground
when it opens,” Stitt said with
a laugh. “But yeah, I’m sure
they will be, yeah.”
Mural design to feature parade
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
The upcoming mural at
Town and County Lanes keeps
being revised.
Recently it was announced
the original design of various
aspects of the Willamette Valley
was just a possibility.
In the last couple Keizer
Public Arts Commission meet-
ings, a new design idea has
emerged: a collage of the Keizer
Iris Festival Parade.
The idea was discussed again
at the May 26 KPAC meeting.
“We took photos of the pa-
rade,” Jill Hagen said. “I’m go-
ing to gather some cards and
bring them in. I’m wondering
and requesting if we could then
review them at the next meet-
ing (June 23) and everyone can
choose their favorites. I don’t
want to be responsible for se-
lecting the favorite fl oats. We
have 140 feet to work with.”
Hagen said a request from
the bowling alley was to include
a river and a silhouette of owner
Don Lebold throwing a fi shing
fl y into the water.
“I’m thinking 12 images at
10 feet each,” Hagen said.
Others wondered if that
would be too much.
“I think that might be too
busy,” Beth Melendy said.
KPAC chair Lore Christo-
pher had the same thought.
“I agree, I’m thinking fi ve
or six things,” Christopher said.
“Someone had the idea of do-
ing a ribbon or banner with a
round piece saying the Keizer
Iris Parade, a banner that makes
it look nostalgic. The irises
would be on the bottom, done
by kids. There would be impres-
sionistic crowd scenes. We could
do that and paint over our fi ve
or six things.”
Melendy suggested the Mc-
Nary High School band, a
horse group and the Keizer Fire
District’s old fi re truck could be
among the images.
Christopher liked the idea of
looking at pictures.
“We could take the images
and line them up like a parade,
then dot (the ones we want),”
she said.
Christopher noted the
evolving nature of the project
isn’t unique.
“Community projects are
in a state of evolution all the
time,” she said. “I like the idea
of having six to eight things. We
can have six to eight artists do
them.”
Melendy wondered if the
delay in coming up with a fi -
nalized design would push the
project back.
“Do we still plan to do this
in September?” she asked.
Christopher responded that
is indeed still the timeline.
local
weather
sudoku
looking back
in the KT
5 YEARS AGO
Garbage rate increase
on council agenda
A residential garbage rate
increase will be on the Keizer
City Council agenda for
next week, debating a seven
percent increase
the Mid-
Valley Garbage and Recycling
Association seeks.
10 YEARS AGO
Enter digits
from 1-9 into
the blank
spaces. Every
row must
contain one
of each digit.
So must every
column, as
must every
3x3 square.
Councilor wants to
revamp neighborhood
associations
City Councilor David McKane
wants to give new life to the
neighborhood association situa-
tion in the city.
15 YEARS AGO
Jenniches faces
Grand Jury
indictment
Jody F. Jenniches, suspected
to be a prolifi c Keizer thief,
was expected to enter the
courtroom and plead guilty to
nine counts of theft and head
to prison; Jenniches changed
his plans last minute and is
now in jail awaiting what is to
come.
20 YEARS AGO
Interchange plan gets
mixed reaction
The Keizer City Council got
a look at the fi rst draft of the
Chemawa Activity Center
plan Monday night, only to
be informed that the project
could not be legally built.
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MOVIE TIMES
Furious 7 (PG-13) Fri 6:15,
8:55, Sat 5:45, 8:35, Sun 5:10, 7:45
Hot Pursuit (PG-13)
Fri 6:40, 8:25, Sat 2:40, 7:10,
Sun 4:00, 8:05
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (PG)
Fri 4:05, 5:55, Sat 12:00, 2:00,
Sun 1:10, 3:15
Insurgent (PG-13)
Sat 12:20, 8:20, Sun 5:30
The Age of Adaline (PG-13)
Fri 7:50, Sat 6:10, Sun 5:55
Woman in Gold (PG-13)
Fri 4:20, Sat 4:00, Sun 7:55
The Longest Ride (PG-13)
Sat 4:25
Ex Machina (R) Sat 8:55
Cinderella (PG)
Fri 4:00, Sat 11:00, 1:15, 3:30,
Sun 12:45, 2:55
Monkey Kingdom (G)
Sat 2:00
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