Farwell Community Celebrates Mill Pond Park Grand Opening

By ETHAN WALLACE 

CMU Journalism Intern 

FARWELL – Village of Farwell President Tracey Jackson and trustee Marvin Frater, cut the ribbon together for the June 4 grand opening of Mill Pond Park. The event was packed as people socialized underneath one of the new pavilions to celebrate the new park for the community.

The event also featured various giveaways for people to enter and free food provided by The Patty Wagon.

Before the ribbon-cutting, Jackson and Kayla Palmer, Fleis and Vandenbrink engineer, gathered everyone for a speech.

Jackson started her speech with the history of Farwell and how it used to be a lumbering town. She said Mill Pond used to be a gathering place for recreation and community events during the 1970s and now it can be that kind of place again.

“This transformation would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work of many people over the past five years,” Jackson said.

Jackson thanked various people and organizations, such as Fleis & VandenBrink, Isabella Corporation, the Village Office staff and the Farwell Department of Public Works.

The project was possible because of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. grant, Jackson said. With the grant, Farwell partnered with the Clare County Road Commission and were able to clean the pond, repair the dam and use remaining funds to create other amenities around the park.

Mill Pond Park features a variety of trails, one large pavilion, two smaller pavilions, a kayak launch, streetlamps, a bike repair station and more. Information guides about the park were handed out by Fleis & VandenBrink, the engineering and architect firm hired by Farwell for the park. The guide detailed the company’s awareness of environmental concerns during the design process. For example, they implemented stormwater pretreatment controls to protect the wetlands.

Jackson shared that Mill Pond Park was submitted by Fleis & VandenBrink for consideration by the American Public Works Association and the park received the 2026 Project of the Year Award in the quality-of-life category for projects ranging from $1 million to $5 million.

“Your winning project titled ‘From Dredge to Destination: Reimagining Mill Pond Park’ is a testament to what can be accomplished when the community comes together with a shared vision,” Jackson said.

Palmer followed up and shared some of the challenges. At the beginning of renovating Mill Pond, Palmer and her colleagues had to buy a machete because the paths were overgrown. 

 “We're bundled up in our winter gear, and we are literally hacking our way through this path, so we can get photos and see what it could be like.” Palmer said.

She said that was just part of the dedication that made this park possible.

“I'm incredibly proud of what this park has become and what it will continue to bring to our community for generations to come,” Jackson said.

© Clare County Cleaver