Brooke Wohlrabe Above: Brantley Drever, 4, takes aim to putt at the mini golf course near the Fairmont Aquatic Park. Nine new holes were recently added to the course.

FAIRMONT — Nine new holes were recently added to Fairmont’s mini-golf course, just in time for summer. The course, located next to the Fairmont Aquatic Park, now features 18 unique holes.

The course was made possible by the Kids Just Want to Have Fun committee, which is a sub-committee of the Project 1590 group. The committee’s goal is to create unique activities and opportunities for the area’s youth.

The mini-golf course opened in September of 2019 with nine holes. Groundbreaking on the second nine took place in September 2020.

“We broke ground before the winter, and then had to wait for the snow to melt and then they started on the rest of it,” said Laura Olsen. Olsen is the chairwoman of the committee, though she said committee members all share the responsibilities pretty evenly.

Each hole on the course was funded by a different business or individual. Olsen said they advertised through social media and letters to the editor in the local papers. The sponsorships were given on a first-come, first-serve basis.

“The first nine went really fast and when we decided to add the second nine, they went pretty fast as well,” Olsen said.

Businesses sponsoring the new nine holes include Beemer Companies, Baha Gutter, Lund Chiropractic Clinic, Valero, Hawkins Chevrolet, Edman and Edman Law, Remax, Fairmont Hearing and Fairmont Body Shop.

Anyone interested in mini-golfing can use putters and balls free of charge. They’re available for pick up at Graffiti Corner, The Holiday Inn, Fairmont CER office, Martin County Library-Fairmont, Sommer Outdoors and the Fairmont Aquatic Park.

Olsen said so far the honor system has been working well.

On June 18, there will be a grand re-opening for the course starting at 5 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 6:30.

“We’re kind of combining with the Fairmont Youth Triathlon. We’ll be supporting them and helping with the event. We sponsored food trucks for both events that will be right there outside the Aquatic Park,” Olsen said.

Olsen said the committee is trying to collaborate more within the community.

“There’s so many opportunities for collaboration and I don’t think people do it enough. Our group is really looking for ways to collaborate and support other groups,” Olsen said.

As for what else the group is working on, Olsen said with Covid it was a weird year with a lot of virtual meetings and group texts to get the nine holes going.

“We decided after this is complete and we have our celebration, we’re going to focus on getting our annual events back up and running,” Olsen explained.

Two main fundraising events the group puts on are the father-daughter dance, which typically takes place in February, and a mother-son event, which takes place in the fall. Olsen said they’re hoping to have the latter event yet this year.

“We rely pretty heavily on donations and sponsorships,” Olsen said.

The funds raised during those two events go into the group’s account. Other projects the committee has completed include the indoor playground inside Fives Lakes Centre.

With the completion of the mini-golf course and the focus on bringing the annual fundraising events back, the group is still looking for ideas to bring more activities and opportunities to youth.

“I’m sure we’ll think of another project,” Olsen said with a laugh.