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One minute Curt Oppel was moving equipment so it didn’t tumble down a hill. The next he helped a cement truck back up. A minute later he was telling a group getting ready to saw down a board that actually went elsewhere.
Oppel wore many hats during the Our Town Our Park project as materials coordinator, site coordinator and construction site “watchdog.”
Rumor had it he was sleeping in the tool trailer at night during the five-day build. The truth was only slightly different. He slept in his on-site RV next to the volunteer sign-in table.
Oppel on normal days is a John L. Scott Real Estate agent. But as the only steering committee member with construction experience — having worked as a general contractor for 25 years — he was one of the key players since the community project to build a playground began a year ago.
He oversaw materials, making sure everything was in place when it was needed, organized hundreds of volunteers at the construction site at Storvik Park and as he said on Friday acted as gofer — “go for this, go for that.”
Other jobs had him coming up with innovations for the swing set beam bolts that were just a little too long, keeping ahead of dwindling supplies like saw blades and “pushing, pushing, asking people to shovel, wheelbarrow, rake — just awful work, awful work,” he said. “I’m sure they were just sweating.”
Though his guard duties didn’t have him seeing much action — just some kids running around — Oppel did express some concern for vandalism. But the park is a busy place and the fact so many people put it together will help.
“The beauty of this is there’s a lot of community ownership,” Oppel said.
See related stories:
Volunteers’ sweat, savvy turn kids’ dreams into palatial playground
Day 1: Boys learn what it takes to build a dream
Day 2: Businesses contribute funding, manpower
Day 3: 'Watchdog' one of many hats for volunteer
Day 4: Area restaurants fill park workers' stomachs
Day 5: Builders scramble with last-minute details
So many helped our town come together to build our park
Day 3: ‘Watchdog’ one of many hats for volunteer
Joan Pringle
Curt Oppel, shown here hatless, actually wore several during the Our Town Our Park project. Oppel was a steering committee member, materials coordinator, site coordinator and watchdog as he spent his nights in his RV next to the construction site at Storvik Park during the five-day build week.
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