Bridge Street Park

Undoubtedly the biggest project Yerington Rotary has ever taken on was the Bridge Street Beautification Project. 

The land just South of South Lyon Medical Center, North of Bridge Street and between Whitacre Avenue and Mountain View Avenue was an undeveloped lot without curbing.  It did contain some huge Cottonwood trees and at least had at one point contained a building which had been a brothel.  Probably sometime in 1997 or early 1998 Jim Sanford’s father (who was editor of the Mason Valley News) suggested that the area would make a nice park that could be used especially by the hospital’s Long Term Care residents.  Ron Nagel was the Rotary Club president and he liked the idea, so he took the idea to the Club and they agreed to take it on as a Club project.  It may have been a bigger project than they had expected, but they persevered and over a period of two or three years with many, many Club work days they created a beautiful park. Ron Nagel served as Project Director and Jim Sanford served as Project Treasurer.  
 
The huge Cottonwood trees had to be removed.  Trenches had to be dug and a French drain system had to be installed.  Then the area had to be leveled, park layout had to be designed, good soil added and a watering system installed.  Most of the beginning work was done by Rotarians.  Ten to fifteen members (with necessary equipment) would show up for each of the many weekend work days.  As the project eventually progressed toward the finishing stages, local business people were hired to lay the concrete paths, plant the shrubs, put up the fence around the park and erect the shade shelters with picnic tables. All told the project cost over $25,000 (not counting donations of labor and materials from Club members and other local residents).  The City of Yerington donated $5,000 towards those expenses and the hospital donated some money, but the great majority of that $25,000 plus came from Rotary Club fundraising activities and donations from Club members and other local residents who were happy to see the area spruced up.