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Mayor Mark Sheets gave a speech christening the official opening of Ainsworth Park in Thompson Falls on Monday. During his speech, he thanked the numerous groups that had worked to finish the park. He was joined by Carla Parks, who was mayor when the foundation was being laid for the park. Parks was an integral part of the Thompson Falls Main Street Inc. organization before it became a part of the Montana State Main Street Program, which opened the project up to numerous grants. She was also part of the Main Street Planning committee, which launched fundraising efforts for the park.

"Once the project went to the city, that is when it became eligible for the big grants," Parks stated. This is because, according to Parks, many state funding opportunities only work through municipalities. "The costs are daunting! We couldn't do it by ourselves." Even with the difficulties ahead, Parks mentioned that the community was able to raise a huge amount of money before they even started applying for grants, which helped in presenting match funds for bigger grants. "Our proposals became models for the whole state, which is pretty cool," said Parks. She explained that a park had never been considered for the Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), and the Main Street Planning proposals were extremely detailed for a community of this size.

About 30 individuals attended the opening, many of whom were involved in the creation of the park and were recognized in the mayor's speech. Sheets began by saying that the project was in its infancy as far back as 2011, when it was decided to remove the old grandstands at Ainsworth Field.

"Three mayors have been involved with it, and numerous individuals, businesses and organizations have been involved with it," said Sheets. "It takes a community to make something like this happen."I really want to emphasize the number of people that worked to get this done," said Parks. "It has been remarkable, the support this project has had from this community."

"Alright everybody, two weeks from now we are going to come in and trash the place," joked Daniel Moore, owner of the Black Bear family of companies, after the ribbon cutting ceremony. He then explained that the Fourth of July celebration in the park is planned to be a huge hit and will be the first large public use of the park. The event will take place Friday through Sunday, July 2-4.