Now only 13 opportunities remain for volunteers to finish the Batavia Riverwalk before its Oct. 10 dedication.
“It’s really close, don’t stop now,” said Dennis Kintop, general contractor for the all-volunteer project that is creating a brick path and community park along the Fox River peninsula in downtown Batavia.
More Top Picks Best Battery Chainsaw
Since its inception in 1991, work on the project has been done only on Saturdays. Because no work will be scheduled on the 4th of July and Labor Day weekends, that leaves 13 Saturdays, and “There’s a summer worth of work left,” he said.
Kintop said he was worried years ago that he would not be chosen as the volunteer general contractor for the project. He had sent in a resume in his quest, which he now finds amusing.
Since he was chosen, Kintop has spent almost every Saturday in the spring, summer and fall at the Riverwalk. Now, when he sees water shooting 10 feet in the air from the soon-to-be-finished fountain, looks at trees maturing, watches as the last of more than 400,000 bricks are installed, he knows the end is in sight.
Joining Kintop through the years has been a team of workers who signed on to be in charge of certain tasks, no matter how long the project took.
That team has coordinated the work of more than 5,000 people, from children to the elderly, from inexperienced laborers to skilled workers. Volunteers have helped lay thousands of feet of walkway, create a native plant wetland, install plumbing, build an open pavilion and an enclosed activity center.
Many of the volunteers are from organized groups, like the 22 members of Cub Scout Pack 103 who, along with siblings and a group of adults, spent five hours Saturday bricking in the entry court area.
Nancy Hodge, the pack’s committee chair, said the activity helps teach children the value of volunteering.
“It helps the community . . . and it’s a project which is all volunteer. It gives the kids an idea of what it means to help other people without expecting something in return,” said Hodge. “That’s something that kids need to learn.”