Emmett City Park

Emmett City Park

Located in the heart of Historic Downtown Emmett, the Emmett City Park is a beautiful place to relax, take a walk, enjoy a concert or play with the kids.

Under many shaded trees, some over 100 years old, are an abundance of picnic tables for enjoying a meal or just to sit and visit. The historic bandshell hosts many community and private events throughout the year.

There are two tennis courts with lights for night time play.

The Emmett Lions Club put in a new playground just a few years ago where children can swing, climb and slide.

A fitness course is located on the east side of the park and a walking path cuts through the center of the park. A large open grassy area is perfect for throwing a frisbee or a soccer game.

The Emmett Pool is also located in the Emmett City Park.

The park is available for community and private events. To reserve the park, bandshell or pavillion, contact the City of Emmett at (208) 365-6050.

BAND SHELL GETS ‘AMPED UP’   

Emmett’s historic, old-fashioned bandshell embodies that “hometown" feeling. The bandshell has been used for all kinds of amazing events over the years. It is truly a community asset.

Groups and individuals have enjoyed using the bandshell, especially during the spring and summer months, engaging us with concerts, performances and other entertainment or community event. It is a ready-made gathering area, entertainment venue and provides quaint surroundings adding appeal to any event.

Whether it’s dancing or singing, country or rock, solos or a full concert, one of the many highlights of the Emmett Cherry Festival has always been the amazing performances to be found each day in the bandshell.

Every year, dozens of dazzling entertainers take the stage to showcase their talent. Festival-goers bring blankets, grab a bite to eat from one of the many Cherry Festival food vendors and relax on the grass in front of band shell enjoying the entertainment.

With the increased number of acts and growing level of talent each year came an increased need for better sound technology to support bigger bands and more sophisticated musical and lighting equipment.

Add to this, the electrical equipment and wiring in the City Park was old and starting to show signs of danger and additions to the wiring over the years zigzagged throughout the park in a confusing maze.

Locals may remember the unplanned ‘fireworks’ at a Cherry Festival a few years back. When the electrical load exceeded capacity, a transformer blew sending sparks and causing a bit of an unwelcome fire.

At the Cherry Festival three years ago, local electrical contractor, Dave Mackey of Mackey Electric, was contracted as the electrician by the Gem County Chamber of Commerce for the Cherry Festival event. Mackey recognized the lack of sufficient power at the park and began investigating the electrical situation and possible solutions to fix the old wiring.

Last year, the GCCC and Mackey Electric embarked on a three-phase upgrade of the electricity for the band shell and west side of the Emmett City Park.

“As a Chamber member and resident of the community, I want to give when and where I can,” said Mackey. “So when we started working with the Chamber on Cherry Festival I decided to donate about half of my costs for the work at the Cherry Festival. I also offered to donate a good portion of my costs to do the electrical upgrade at the park.”

The first phase of the electrical upgrade also included cooperation from the City of Emmett and a partial donation from Idaho Power. The big green box on the west side of the band shell was installed by Idaho Power. It is a 300 KVA transformer. To put that in perspective, it would be capable of running the equivalent of about 90,000 100-watt light bulbs.

Mackey Electric took it from there, rewiring and adding electrical boxes to the West side of the band shell. This will provide 800 amps of service to the band shell plus another 200 amp box.

“With a terrific band shell like this, you want to see it used,” said Mackey. “The power was just not sufficient. Now, it’s pretty limitless. Any band or concert could come to play here and have more than enough power for both musical needs and lighting needs.”

The GCCC board of directors decided to invest in the electrical upgrade as a benefit to the entire community and to meet the growing needs of the Emmett Cherry Festival.

The Emmett City Council arranged to have the all the trench work done to assist with the project.

Phase I was a welcomed addition to the 2008 Emmett Cherry Festival where record-breaking attendance numbers put the electrical power supply to the test. With just a few adjustments, all went well and Phase II is now under review.