Rainbow Park fountain repairs begin Monday

The long-awaited restoration of the concrete fountain at Rainbow Park in Creston is scheduled to begin Monday.

The project, which will cost about $10,000, has been paid for by Creston Parks and Recreation Department, Youth Answering the Call of the Community (YACC) and a South Central Iowa Foundation grant. No taxpayer dollars will be used.

The 20-foot high, 114-year-old water fountain began leaking substantially about three years ago. This caused the water bill to triple and forced the department to keep the fountain turned off, according to John Kawa, president of Creston Parks Board. Because the fountain holds historic value and is important to the people of Creston, Kawa and Mark Huff, Creston Parks director, decided it was necessary to fix it.

“It just leaks out water faster than we can put it in,” Huff said.

Repairs to the fountain will include sandblasting, sealing it up so it holds water again, installing an automated water filtration system and repainting it. The pump and other parts have already been purchased and just need to be installed.

There have been setbacks in starting the project – primarily the amount of rain Creston has received this month. But Cleghorn & Sons Inc. of Winterset will begin working on the fountain Monday, and Huff said it should be completed within a week, weather permitting.

“We want to get it running again soon, especially with it being summer,” Kawa said.