Root River Education Center set to open

BY DAVID STEINKRAUS
Journal Times

Monday, April 28, 2008 12:55 PM CDT

RACINE — After about a year and a half of planning and work, the Root River Environmental Education Community Center, 1301 Sixth St., opens Saturday.

But the opening will be more than a daylong premiere of the center, created from what had been a city storage garage sitting high on the bank above the river. It will also feature the last public meeting about the restoration plan for the Root River, including a boat tour to look at what areas the plan is likely to address.

Primarily, the plan emphasizes the section of river downstream of the Marquette Street bridge, said Allison Werner of the River Alliance of Wisconsin. The organization has been preparing the river plan, and she said the final version should be ready by the end of June.

Aaron Taliafero helps paint the sign at the Root River Environmental Education Center, 1301 W. Sixth St., Saturday April 26, 2008. The center opens Saturday May 3, and volunteers were putting finishing touches on the facility. / Mark Hertzberg Journal Times Buy this photo at jtreprints.com

Preliminary recommendations include a river walk which would tie in with the walk Downtown, as well as thoughts about future housing and how to beautify the vertical steel retaining wall below Sam Azarian Park on Water Street.

The tour will last until noon, which is when opening activities begin at the center. Opening activities will last until 4 p.m. and will include more than 35 exhibitors on topics such as urban farming, organic food production and green building, said Ben Lehner, the AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer who was hired by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside to organize the center and a related project in Kenosha.

There will be a cookout as well as a number of musical acts providing entertainment including the Sindoolaa African Music Band from Milwaukee. Wrapped around all of this will be a children’s fishing event from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the center.

Although it has a garage look and feel to it now, the center may not stay that way for long. Part of the plan is to modify the cement block building with skylights, a greenhouse, and a three-season enclosed deck.

Depending upon how many partners, benefactors or grants the university can find, the deck may be up within a year, said Tom Schnaubelt, dean for community engagement and civic learning at the UW-Parkside Center for Community

Partnerships. "What we want to do with that is provide a classroom space that would have a little more access to sunlight," he said. The greenhouse would be more expensive and thus a more complicated, longer-term undertaking. "That one might be more on the three- to five-year timeline," he said.

But again, he said that optimistic schedule depends on what donations or grants come through.

The center is a joint venture between the city and the university, and the intent is to teach people about the river and water quality issues by engaging them through activities and by providing boat rentals to get them out on the water.

The center will be open from Memorial Day to Labor Day: Thursdays and Fridays from 4 to 7:30 p.m., Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.

IF YOU GO

What: A paddling tour of the Root River and public meeting on the river restoration plan, and the grand opening of the Root River Environmental Education Community Center.

Where: At the Root River Environmental Education Community Center, 1301 Sixth Street (right beside the railroad bridge).

When: Saturday. Participants can drop off boats between 9:15 and 9:45 a.m. Welcoming speeches will begin at 10, and the boat tour begins at 10:30. The tour ends at noon. Opening events begin at noon and last until 4 p.m. A kids fishing event occurs from 9:30 a.m. until noon.

Fees: For the paddling tour there is a fee of $10 per person attending and an additional $10 to rent a boat. There is no charge to attend the opening.

Registration: Advance registration for the tour is required. Download a registration form from the River Alliance of Wisconsin at