Constitution Park project resumes: Amphitheater to be completed this spring

Final construction of the Constitution Park Project will soon be underway at the redeveloped park as temperatures warm this spring.

According to Town of Lovell Administrator Jed Nebel, the long-awaited amphitheater for the park, renamed Armory Park since the project’s inception, will be completed this spring.

Phase I of the project was completed some two years ago and included a new playground, splash pad and skate park.

Phase II has involved a walking path, softball field retrofit, landscaping and the amphitheater. The softball field and walking path were completed last fall.

The softball field portion of the project includes new dugouts, outfield fence and an irrigation system.

“It looks really good,” Nebel said. “It’s a heck of an upgrade from what we had before.”

The walking path is in place with Mountain Construction donating the aggregate material for the path – base rock and hot mix.

“We just need to finish up some dirt work (landscaping) and hydroseeding,” Nebel said.

Final landscaping will include finishing the irrigation system, dirt work and hydroseeding, plus some connecting sidewalks, Nebel said.

The amphitheater base was completed last fall, and the electrical infrastructure is in place, Nebel said. Final structure work by Midway Construction and Dirt Work will be completed in the spring.

“Between phases we got some new picnic tables and painted the picnic pavilion,” Nebel added.

The Constitution Park Project was funded by Wyoming Land and Water Conservation Fund grants, with a Town of Lovell match and donations by Bairco Construction, Mountain Construction, the Lovell Recreation District and Big Horn County Little League, plus in-kind donations by Midway Construction.

Midway Construction owner Pete Baxendale said stage lighting for the amphitheater is in the budget, but there could be some additional lighting in the park, depending on the cost, near the skate park.

He said his plan is to begin construction in May and have the amphitheater completed by Mustang Days. 

Mountain bike trail

Nebel said work is also continuing on the Cottonwood Canyon Mountain Bike Trail System, with a trails plan completed last fall by Pointe Strategies of Lakewood, Colorado, funded by the Town of Lovell and Big Horn County. The project was born out of a series of local meetings held to gauge interest in the project.

Nebel said the town has obtained a $10,000 micro grant from the Wyoming Business Council to help with the construction documents.

Interested parties looked at a variety of sites for a bike path system and settled on Cottonwood Canyon at the foot of the Big Horns east of Lovell in part because the area has already been designated a recreation area by the Bureau of Land Management and the presence of shovel-ready “rake to ride” soil that is perfect for a bike trail system, Nebel said.

The trail system will include about 26 miles of trails coming out of Cottonwood Canyon and branching out in multiple directions from there, Nebel said.

Public meeting

Details of the trail plan will be presented at a public meeting scheduled for Thursday, April 17, at 6 p.m. at the Lovell Community Center during which “we’ll bring people up to speed on what we’ve developed,” Nebel said.

He said Pointe Strategies will complete the construction documents, and the goal is to have an environmental review completed in time for 2026 funding.