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Thorton Partners with Local Girl Scout Troup
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Local Girl Scout Troop Partners with Thornton Parks, Recreation & Community Programs (TPRCP) to build and inclusive Archery Range in Thornton
By Mike Coulter, Recreation Coordinator, City of Thornton
In a city of 145,000 residents, during a pandemic shutdown, you would not think four young girls could come up with an idea to build an ADA accessible archery range, navigate through the bureaucracy associated with a city of that size, and then see their idea come to fruition in just six months. You’d be wrong though. Last summer, four young members of Girls Scout Troop #62511, Abigail Boehmler, Eden Lucas-Eraquam, Samantha Gemaehlich, and Aleaha Schauppner decided for their Silver Award Project, they would like to see an archery range built in Thornton that would be free of charge for the public to use and would be accessible to all regardless of their abilities. They first contacted Thornton City Council member Adam Matkowsky with the idea and said they were willing to solicit lumber donations and build twelve target holders and six bow stands for the project. Councilmember Matkowsky asked Parks, Recreation & Community Programs Director, Seve Ghose to look into this to see if it was possible. Mr. Ghose loved the idea and assembled a team of staff from the department and the project was off and running in August 2020. The first step was deciding how many lanes to construct and what type of target holders and bow stands would be used. The girl scout troop did research both online and by visiting other ranges and came up with the recommendation to build six lanes with two targets each. Distances would be 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 100 meters. One target would be at 70 meters as that is the official Olympic distance for the longbow competition. Parks staff then selected a site at Spratt Lake (100th and McKay) and began grading a large plot. A priority from the start was to make the range welcoming
to archers from the disabled community, so staff from the Streets Department brought in roto-millings (recycled, groundup asphalt) to help make a suitable surface for wheelchairs. The girls secured lumber donations from Alpine Lumber and got to work building the frames that would hold the archery targets and the stands that would hold the bows when archers are retrieving their arrows. They also researched rules for the range and a sign was ordered. Parks and Recreation staff plotted out exactly where the targets and firing line markers would be and secured these into the ground. The targets were ordered and placed in the hangers and the range was ready for business by December. Future plans for the site include a pavilion, trees, split rail fence, and picnic benches. For their efforts, the girl scouts and their parents were selected as the Thornton Parks, Recreation & Community Programs 2020 Volunteer Team of the Year. The city staff from parks, recreation, streets, and the water resources divisions were also honored as the Thornton Parks, Recreation & Community Programs 2020 Team of the Year. The project was a great example of members of the local community working together with staff from multiple divisions within the city to produce a great amenity open for all to use.
