ABOVE: Some of the various products Canvus makes out of upcycled wind turbines. Photo courtesy of gocanvus.com.

FAIRMONT– The Fairmont Park Board on Tuesday heard about the company, Canvus, as it had reached out to Street and Park Superintendent, Nick Lardy. The company repurposes used wind turbine blades into functional pieces of art. Some of the items that can be made include benches and flower beds.

“I wanted to run it past you to see what the interest is,” Lardy told the board.

He said that, according to the company, there’s about 5,000 to 8,000 blades a year that go to landfills and that the company has a goal of reusing them.

Lardy said that donors give the company money to use up some of the product so the company was offering a first round to the city for free.

“The concept is a really good one,” said Board Member Monica Shelgren.

Lardy said with the donated product, the city would still need to do the installation work. He acknowledged that the product is unique and said they could look good in an industrial Park.

Several board members expressed a desire to learn more about the company and what it can offer. Lardy said he would have more information available at the next meeting. More information on Canvus can be found at the company’s website: https://www.gocanvus.com/

In his report to the board, Lardy provided an update on the parks department. He said with the three inches of rain received over the weekend, they’ve had about five staff members mowing nearly constantly.

He said that Jeffrey Kot Fields have been fertilized and will be sprayed for dandelions soon. Some parks have also been sprayed for weeds.

Work on the pickle ball courts at Veterans Park, on the former east tennis court, continues this week. Lardy also said there is as a company out of Omaha that may be coming in to resurface the tennis courts at Veterans Park.

As for summer employees, Lardy said at the last Park Board meeting that all eight of the temporary, seasonal positions within the department have been filled. On Tuesday he shared that he has three working now but that about half of them are high school students so will be starting in the next few weeks.

“We do have an employee who comes in on the weekends now. He comes in Saturdays and Sundays to clean shelters and run through restrooms. They do that twice a day,” Lardy said.

He noted that shelters have been busy. So far the Lincoln Park shelter has been rented a couple times and with graduation parties coming up, Lardy said everything is pretty much booked.

Lardy spoke some of other upcoming events that the department is working in anticipation of, such as Memorial Day, Interlaken Heritage Days, the Triathlon and the Fairmont Aquatic Park opening on June 5.

“We’re working on the 2024 budget items,” Lardy said.

He said that while there is a lot going on, he wants to focus on the needs. He encouraged the board to let him know if there’s anything else it would like to see included in the budget.

Board Member Jodie Whitmore commended the work that the parks department does.

“I can’t believe you do this. 11,000 people and you have 20 people taking care of the city,” she said.

Community Education and Recreation Director, Stephanie Busiahn, also provided a brief update. She said that so far they have 23 students registered for the summer parks program.

“A lot of them just show up as the program moves from park to park to park, so to have 23 kiddos signed up… is pretty good for us, especially this early in the season,” Busiahn said.

She also said that so far they have at least six teams registered for co-ed softball.

Finally, Busiahn shared some new information about facility usage and scheduling that CER does, which includes the school buildings, Southern Minnesota Educational Campus, soccer fields, Cedar Creek Park, sand volleyball courts at Gomsrud Park and the Winnebago Avenue Sports Complex.

“From a tracking perspective, from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, there was 9,061.26 hours that were scheduled in those facilities,” Busiahn said.

In comparison, from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, there is 8, 550.46 hours. She said they have also scheduled over 2,000 hours beyond that.

“Things are getting used,” Busiahn said.

In other action:

— The board elected Jodie Whitmore to serve as board chair.