Lake Shore Drive reopens

Garbage is cleared, sediment scooped, shoreline protected and the road is paved. City work on McKinley Lake is complete, with final steps left to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Creston Parks and Recreation Director Rusty Zimmerman said everything the city could do was officially completed Monday. Recent work included closing the drain valve, finishing coating the shoreline with riprap, putting a boat ramp in and asphalting Lake Shore Drive on the east side of the lake.

“Now that everything has been done, they’ve closed [the pipe] so that they can seed down below the overflow pipe. It’s got to be seeded with the DNR’s waterway mix,” Zimmerman said. However, once the seeding is done, the drain valve will reopen as it’s not yet time to refill the lake.

“The DNR does not want water pooling in it because they are going to, end of July, first part of August, drain Hurley Creek, let it get as dried and small as it can, then they’ll fish kill all the nasties,” Zimmerman said. “They’ll do the whole process, going down through the creek and all the little ponds they see down there. There’s fish in there right now, but they won’t be there long.”

Once the invasive fish are killed, the waterways will be refilled and fresh fish added.

The path to bring the lake back to its former glory has been years in the making. Restoration was approved in the November 2021 ballot, with draining beginning August 2024 and dredging in February 2025.

In other park news...

The concession stand at Bill Sears ballpark has been open for the past couple of weeks and has seen success so far. The stand is run by volunteers.

Zimmerman said he is working with the Southwestern Community College welding program to add new charcoal grills to the city parks. The welding students would have the grills incorporated into a full lesson plan, while the city would have a steep discount - under $700 a piece compared to the normal $1,500 a piece.