Ferndale now crowdfunding for Harding Park inline rink improvements

FERNDALE — The Ferndale Parks and Recreation Department has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to improve its inline skating rink.

Harding Park’s inline skating rink has been a popular attraction in Ferndale that has attracted visitors and skaters for many years.

However, Ferndale has been aiming to update its inline rink at Harding Park for a number of years due to wear and tear.

“There’s been a lot of wear that aren’t fixable because the company is no longer making those boards, because they’re so old,” Parks and Recreation Director LaReina Wheeler said. “We’ve been actually using materials from our other decommissioned inline rinks that were at other parks that are no longer there to fix up the rink in our city at Harding Park, but we no longer have access to those parks and basically it’s pretty much in need of replacement.”

Back in 2024, the city was able to secure a $100,000 Land and Water Conservation Fund grant with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to put toward rink updates.

With an estimated cost of $200,000, the city sought other funding opportunities. This led it to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Public Spaces Community Places program. As part of an agreement with the MEDC, if Ferndale is able to raise $62,500, the program will match the money, bringing in $125,000 for the park improvements.

“Public recreation should be accessible and welcoming to all members of the community regardless of age or ability,” MEDC Regional Development Managing Director Paula Holtz stated in a press release. “This universally accessible inline skating rink at Harding Park will be a great example of this principle in practice. We are pleased to provide resources for this effort through our Public Spaces Community Places program.”

The rink improvements will include the removal and replacement of the old inline skating rink; the installation of new flooring; barrier-free accessible pathways from the parking lot and walking paths to the rink; new benches, trash and recycling bins; new landscaping to address the standing water issues near the rink; and additional accessible parking spaces in the parking lot.

Resident Chris Woodside is a user of the skating rink, but he hasn’t used it as much as he’d like or the rink near his home at Geary Park, as they’ve fallen into disrepair.

“Parks and Rec has kind of been keeping it on life support over the past couple of years, taking parts from the other rinks around the city that have been decommissioned and applying those,” he said. “It’s older, it’s outdated, it’s not quite as accessible as it could be and should be. So, we’re looking forward to this upgrade.”

Woodside, who also is a Parks and Recreation Board commissioner, plays both inline and on-foot hockey, and is hopeful the new rink also can lead to new events being hosted at the park.

“It opens the door up to inline hockey leagues or floor hockey leagues, lessons — skating lessons,” he said. “In the future, we’ve talked about having ‘movie in the park’ and skate nights. It’d be nice to kind of pair those things together, whereas now we just sort of offer movies in the park, and this would be a great way to combine and use a lot of the same resources together.”

If the funding is not matched during the 60-day campaign, Ferndale will be able to keep what it has raised, but the MEDC will not match the funds.

“The city will basically find funding to fill that gap,” Wheeler said. “The good thing is we have a lot of positive feedback so far from residents, as well as organizations who have committed to already donate some funds and are in process to do so, but this is a great opportunity for everyone in the community to help continue to build and invest in our parks.”

For those interested in donating or learning more, visit patronicity.com/harding.