For the record, Ben Watson doesn’t actually play chess.
But you may – or checkers, for that matter – and Watson’s Eagle Scout project sets you up for a pleasant match at Battle Point Park.
The Bainbridge High School junior installed an outdoor chess board and benches at the park this summer to complete his Scout requirements for Bainbridge Island Troop 1564. The project was supported by a $2,700 Community Grant from the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation.
“I was thinking I really wanted something that would last,” Watson said. “I wanted something really permanent that I could come back to, way down the line.”
“Permanent” pointed to concrete, in both senses of the word, and Watson wanted something more interactive than a typical park bench. While not a chess player himself, he landed on an outdoor chess table typical of many urban parks.
“I thought it would be nice, and add something to the park,” he said.
Watson and his project advisor, Ken DeWitt, scouted locations around Battle Point before settling on a spot next to the KidsUp! Playground. Shade comes dear there, and the chess table and benches invite a rest beneath the sheltering boughs of a great black oak.
Don’t fancy a game? It doubles as a great table for a picnic lunch for a parent and kid, between romps around the playground.
Watson and fellow Scouts built forms and poured the concrete base, with help from the Park District construction staff. The board, concrete with a marble inlay, pedestal and benches were sourced from a commercial vendor.
“We did the concrete mixing and everything, but the Park District really helped us out with the leveling,” he said. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
The project was one of six funded through the Parks & Trails Foundation’s Community Grants program in 2021. Others included BHS Sailing Club, $3,000 for a new C-420 sailboat for youth regattas; Bainbridge Island Water Polo Club, $3,000 for new conditioning equipment; Bainbridge Metro Parks stewards program, $3,000 for tools for volunteer conservation and stewardship events; Bainbridge Island Swim Club, $2,775 for a new records board for the Bainbridge Island Aquatic Center; and Eagledale Pottery Studio, $1,450 for a new pug mill for recycling and reusing pottery clay.
Since 1998, the Parks & Trails Foundation has awarded Community Grants totaling more than $852,000 supporting youth and adult park and recreation programs on Bainbridge Island.
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GOT A PROJECT? GET A GRANT: The Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation’s 2022 Community Grant cycle goes live on Sept. 1 with grant applications due Oct. 1. Make your capital improvement project dreams for parks, trails and recreation come true! See www.biparksfoundation.org/grants for more information.
