CARIBOU, Maine — The new Teague Park on Caribou’s Bennett Drive is near completion after years in the making.
Gary Marquis, director of Caribou’s Parks and Recreation Department, said that several sections of the park are complete and being used by residents, including the tennis and basketball courts. Besides some refining, all that remains to be installed is the playground and splash pad. Marquis hopes to have the playground equipment installed by the end of October and the splash pad completed by July 4, 2021.
The park is part of a $50 million Pre-K through eight project funded by the Maine Department of Education centered on demolishing Teague Park Elementary School and Caribou Middle School and replacing them with a new K-8 Caribou Community School on nearby Glenn Street. The Caribou Community School — which is built on land that formerly contained the old Teague Park — was scheduled to open on Oct. 19 after construction delays. That date has now been pushed back to sometime in November.
The parks and rec department has ordered seven units for the playground, each with “safety zones” around it. Older playground equipment will also be integrated with the new units, and the city will add safety surfacing to the facility before it is open to the public.
After the playground, the next stage of development will be instilling a splash pad. Bids opened for the pad on Oct. 10. Maquis said two companies had attended the mandatory bid meeting: Soderberg Construction of Caribou — which did work on the playground — and Buck Construction of Mapleton.
Caribou’s facility will be the second splash pad in the area: Presque Isle opened one at River Bicentennial Park in 2018. It has since become a popular destination for local children, especially during hot summer days.
Marquis said the city’s interest in a splash pad predates Presque Isle’s project. Marquis said he has been interested in building one since 2014, but it took longer to come into development because many in RSU-39 continued to be interested in a parks and rec department-run swimming pool.
Funding for the splash pad will be assisted by a $75,000 donation from the organizers of the Caribou Children’s Discovery Museum, a project that never ended up coming to fruition. Much of the other money will come from funds the city had put aside in a funding account for Caribou’s pool, which has been closed since 2013.
Marquis said splash pads are far easier to maintain than pools — they don’t need on-duty lifeguards, and there’s little chance of drownings. He said these risks were leading municipalities across the country to replace pools with splash pads.
“[Municipalities] can’t find staff, and the liability is humungous,” Marquis said. “Many splash pads in the country don’t even have staff.”
Marquis said the park’s total cost would be about $1.3 to $1.4 million, the majority of which was paid for by funds from the state of Maine. COVID-19 has not disrupted the park’s progress or any construction schedules, Marquis said.
He said the most useful thing for the parks and rec department was having all of its facilities in one place. For example, if it’s raining in the summertime, baseball could be moved from the softball field to the parks and rec department’s gym without children needing to cross the street.
“Having the school there and the wellness center here, it’s a great marriage between [RSU 39] and the city,” Marquis said.
Sign for Teague Park on Bennett Drive with basketball court in background. (David Marino Jr. | The Star-Herald)
Caribou Parks and Recreation Director Gary Marquis works at his desk at his Bennett Drive office. (David Marino Jr. | The Star-Herald)
