It has been just over five years since the city of Lakes Charles’ Partners in Parks Initiative was announced at McMillan Park.

To celebrate the anniversary, city officials and members of the initiative gathered at the Historic City Hall on Friday.

Partners in Parks is a public-private partnership that was created together with the city and local businesses and organizations to enhance local parks and provide family-friendly programming for citizens.

Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter expressed gratitude for the time, energy and money that was donated to make the initiative successful.

“This is a celebration of something that has been half a decade in the making here in Lake Charles, something that started off as small, crazy ideas that grew into something that our entire team, and hopefully this entire community, is very proud of.”

Sara Judson, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana, said that Partners in Parks works in tandem with two of the foundation’s tenets: enhancing quality of life for citizens and providing the community with family-friendly activities.

“Partners in Parks is a big piece of that. It’s a great example of what can happen through a community foundation. When people, when companies, when other nonprofit partners have a cause that they care about, they can join together under the umbrella under the community foundation to be able to achieve that mission.”

Michael Castille, Lake Charles director of community services, said that as a father, access to updated and safe park equipment and educational programming has been a blessing.

“I just love that connection that I have, and I love the fact that we have that throughout the city… We have a community worth serving.”

Hunter recognized some of the highlights, including the planting of over 3,000 trees and the reinstitution of the Boys and Girls club at the Columbus Circle Recreation Center.

He also presented some numbers. He estimates that Partners in Parks has hosted over 100 community events.

Prior to its launch in 2019, the city had an initial goal of $100,000 donated from businesses.

“Five years ago when we had this idea at city hall, I remember thinking very specifically that if we could reach out to four businesses and get four businesses to each put up $25,000, that the city would match it dollar for dollar and the city would make some enhancements at the city parks.”

Major expansions, upgrades and additions through Partners in Parks are on the horizon, like the plan to build two additional youth centers in Lake Charles to house expansion to the Boys and Girls club.

Hunter explained that “a lot of the really impactful, transformational projects” that can be completed through Partners in Parks depend on LC Rebound, a tax-neutral bond proposal that would modernize the city’s existing sales tax rate.

If passed, Partners in Parks will accumulate $1.6 million from the private sector.

The Lake Charles Rebound proposals will be on the Nov. 18 ballot.

The city will be hosting seven community meetings on LC REBOUND over the next couple of months. The first meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 24 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, 2009 N. Simmons St.