Soap Lake seeks funds for basketball court grant
A display along S.R. 17 in Soap Lake encourages support for the city's drive to raise $25,000 to help build a new basketball court in Smokiam Park.
Charles H. Featherstone
SOAP LAKE — It looks like Smokiam Park in Soap Lake will get a new basketball court.
According to Soap Lake Mayor Alex Kovacks, the city of Soap Lake has received a $211,000 grant from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office to build a new basketball court right next to the skate park in the lakefront Smokiam Park.
The grant funds approximately 90% of the project, Kovacks said. The city is busy raising the remaining sum, roughly $25,000, needed to complete the basketball court.
“It’s pretty exciting news,” Kovacks said. “The budget’s a little tight, so we need input and donations.”
According to Kovacks, the city has kicked in $9,000 from the parks and recreation department and $5,000 from tourism funding. Donations totaled $3,000 on Tuesday morning.
“We’re getting close,” Kovacks said, adding he hoped to have secured the remainder and fully fund construction of the new basketball court prior to the city council’s next meeting, Feb. 3.
“I’m hoping to update the council on where we are so far,” he said.
Soap Lake originally submitted the grant application in 2018, but while the basketball court was deemed eligible, the RCO did not fund the project at the time, Kovacks said. The office, however, did list the basketball court as an alternate project, and funded it in 2020, he added.
Kovacks said the addition of the basketball court is part of a larger plan to make Smokiam Park a greater venue for young people to hang out, skate and play.
“We’d also like to see other activities in that area,” he said. “The first big step in our master plan is coming to fruition.”
Soap Lake is soliciting donations at city hall, from the public on its website and through the Ephrata-based Columbia Basin Foundation. Anyone interested in donating can visit the city’s website at www.soaplakewa.gov/news/support-for-new-smokiam-basketball-court or call Soap Lake City Hall at 509-246-1211.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.