Francis Park Opening Delayed

With all City of Kewanee public facilities closed to the public and the Governor’s “Stay at Home” executive order in place, the Woodland Palace and Francis Park will not be opening as originally planned.  Under normal conditions, the park and house would be open on April 24th this year. 

But these are not normal conditions.  The first residents of Francis Park this year may in fact be people under quarantine for suspected COVID-19 exposure.  “There are a lot of contingencies in place,” City Manager Gary Bradley said, adding “Mat Schnepple, the County’s Director of Emergency Management, has worked hard to develop a list of potential places to house people for quarantine.  I’m sure we’re pretty far down the list, but we’re on there if things get bad enough that it’s needed.” 

If the park isn’t needed, it is expected to open shortly after the stay at home order is lifted.   With people tucked away safely in their homes for such a long period of time, the City expects a fair number of individuals and families to take advantage of what the park has to offer.  “There could be a lot of people who want to go camping for a weekend or even a week, just to get back to nature and away from binge watching TV,” said Kevin Newton, who is responsible for managing Francis Park.  “When the order is lifted, we’ll be ready to serve them, and if we can serve the residents before then in fighting the pandemic, we’ll be ready for that, too.”