The community of Hazen is very fortunate to have a great number of parks spread throughout the community.  Very few communities have as many parks per resident as Hazen does.  Through the years, Hazen Parks and Recreation has had difficulty maintaining these parks and facilities to the desired level due to financial constraints.  Our dream is to renovate, update and maintain our parks and facilities to make Hazen the model community for what small towns can offer through parks and recreation. 

In 2013, our community took the first step in this process and passed a ½ cent sales tax designated for the renovation and repair of our swimming pool.  These funds have and continue to go towards the pool renovation loan, maintenance and future projects at the pool.  This sales tax will expire at the end of 2023.  Although the pool loan will be paid off, there will future costs associated with keeping our pool in top condition.  At the same time our pool tax expires, we will need to install a new liner.  The pool also needs renovation in the equipment room, an area that was not touched during the original project due to financial concerns. 

As we travel around our community, we all see the areas in parks that are in need of updates and repair.  We all have a wish list of amenities for each of our neighborhood parks.  Ultimately, financial constraint is the bump in the road to many of these needs and desires.  However, we, as a community, again have the opportunity to make Hazen the place we all desire it to be.  We have the opportunity to be truly exemplary when it comes to our parks and recreation facilities.   Our hope and desire is that Hazen deems our parks to be the essential part of our lives, and our well being, that they really are.  Much of this opportunity is simply to keep things as they are.  Simply removing the sunset clause and keeping our sales tax in place.  The change that Hazen Parks and Recreation is asking for, is the ability to use these funds not only at the pool, but to renovate, update and maintain our other parks and facilities as well. 

To be honest, much of the use of our parks and programming is by people who live outside of Hazen.  People who live around Hazen, but not in it, as well as our guests and visitors. While we all appreciate these patrons, they currently share zero burden in the cost of maintaining and updating our parks, playgrounds, ballfields, etc.  Our pool, on the other hand, is different.  For the past six years, everyone who shops in Hazen has contributed towards our pool.  One half cent at a time.  If we truly want Hazen’s parks and facilities to be what they should be, we need everyone who uses them to contribute.  The easiest way to gain this contribution and improve our parks and facilities is through the continuation of the current ½ cent sales tax.  Let’s make Hazen all it can be for our health and wellness, now and in the future.

Please check out the pdf below for further information on the vision of what parks in Hazen can become!

Reservations at Hazen Bay for 2020 will open on Monday, March 16th at 8:00 am.  For the link to webreserv.com, please go to the Hazen Bay tab under Camping.

Hazen Bay seasonal camping lottery applications are now available.  Applications will be due in by February 7th.  The lottery will be held at 12:00 pm at Hazen City Hall on February 14th.

Write a brief overview of your organization here. This content is important for website visitors as well as search engines indexing your website. Keep this description relatively short. A single paragraph is perfect. Make sure you include keywords such as your sport, city and state.