Rocky Mountain Bank is awarding a $20,000 grant to the Astoria Hot Springs Park, the project’s most significant grant from a corporate entity to date, a press release said.
The gift will support the Trust for Public Land’s effort to develop the hot springs 16 miles south of Jackson into a family-oriented public park that includes a resort area with pools and nearly 100 acres of passive park land. The park would sit on the site of the hot springs park that closed in 1999.
Rocky Mountain Bank President Mark Hendrickson said the bank is partnering with the trust because it understands how important Astoria will be for the community.
“As we learned more about the layered benefits of this project — from conservation, to social equity, to health and wellness — we were impressed by the magnitude of work that will be enabled through their $5 million campaign,” he said.
“We are dedicated to improving lives in the places where we operate, and we know Astoria will be a great addition for our customers and employees,” he said.
The county approved the plan for the Astoria park in July. Designs for the hot springs resort show hot soaking pools, a leisure pool, a kids pool, decks, lawns, picnic space and hammock setups. Plans also call for an adjacent, 98-acre park with walking trails, multiuse pathways, playgrounds and event spaces.
The trust gathered feedback on the park’s design from diverse groups in Jackson, including an effort to include the opinions of Jackson’s Latino community. That meant incorporating pinata-friendly poles, Mexican-style “kioscos” and other suggestions into the plans.
The park is being funded by an ongoing $5 million fundraising campaign. The campaign’s director, Paige Byron, said the bank’s grant is critical to the trust’s success in reaching the halfway mark.
“We are grateful for their partnership and financial commitment, along with many other individuals, foundations and local businesses who have stepped up to support the campaign for Astoria Hot Springs Park,” she said. “Our campaign’s success depends solely on private philanthropic gifts, and we hope that other local businesses, individuals and foundations will be inspired by this gift to participate so we can complete our fundraising and break ground on the new park.”
The trust aims to break ground as soon as fundraising is completed, with a goal to reopen to the public in 2019. See an upcoming issue of the Jackson Hole News&Guide for a comprehensive update on the Trust for Public Land’s progress on Astoria.
Allie Gross covers Teton County government. Originally from the Chicago area, she joined the News&Guide in 2017 after studying politics and Spanish at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
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