Rainbow Park fountain fixed, will be ready for spring

The restoration of the 114-year-old water fountain at Rainbow Park is now complete and, this spring, the fountain will be turned on for the first time in three years.

The issue with the 20-foot high fountain was significant leaking, which caused the water bill to triple and forced the Creston Parks and Recreation Board to keep the fountain turned off.

“It’s too nice of a monument not to be working,” said John Kawa, chairman of the Creston Parks and Recreation Board. “The fountain is unique. You can go all over Iowa, and you won’t see many like it.”

Repairs this time to the historic centerpiece included sandblasting, sealing it to hold water again, upgrading the plumbing and repainting. The work was done by Cleghorn & Sons Inc. of Winterset and Paulus Concrete of Creston.

The initial estimate was $10,000, to be paid for by Creston Parks and Recreation Department, Youth Answering the Call of the Community and a South Central Iowa Foundation grant. But an issue along the way brought the total up to about $11,500.

“They (Paulus Concrete) had to bust out the inner ring of the fountain and replace the concrete because it deteriorated quite a bit, so it ended up being a little bit more than we originally thought,” said Mark Huff, director of Creston Parks and Recreation Department.

Conrad Cleghorn, owner of Cleghorn & Sons Inc., said the concrete basin below the fountain is now successfully holding water. Cleghorn was at the fountain doing finishing touches Monday, including a paint job.

“Everything’s bright white and looks pretty,” Kawa said. “The fountain should be (running) for the long haul now. We shouldn’t have to mess with it again.”

The companies worked on the fountain on and off for months due to weather. Huff said the final update – chemical controls on a new automated filtration system – will be installed sometime before the fountain is turned back on this spring.

“Creston has two special parks with McKinley and Rainbow,” Kawa said. “Not many towns have that, and I sure hope people appreciate what they’ve got here.”