After a year of hard work and determination, the Wells community will celebrate the opening of their new skate park on June 4.

&uot;A group of youth that Deb (Tolzmann) works with through church got the discussion going,&uot; Jim Moll, CFO of Wells Federal Bank, said. Moll and the bank played a central role in getting the project moving along.

The group of kids got the ball rolling with fund raisers and by asking local businesses and organizations for donations. The results were spectacular, especially for a town of Wells’ size.

&uot;In cash, material and labor, the amount raised was right around $45,000,&uot; Moll said.

The group then approached the city council, asking if, after raising enough money to build, they could put the skate park on open land that the city owned. The city agreed to donate the land.

&uot;It all really fell into place,&uot; Moll said.

The project began to take form early in the spring of 2002. As the year went on, the group raised money, and by early fall, they paved a 50-by-100-foot area with concrete as the base for the park.

The park includes grind rails, quarter pipes, ramps and a fun box.

&uot;We built it as a tier one skate park,&uot; Moll said. &uot;That means it doesn’t need constant supervision.&uot;

The park was used some last fall and has been skated on during the spring, but the city won’t have an official grand opening until this next week.

Moll said he is happy with the results and was impressed by the donations and the determination of the group.

&uot;It’s a project that Deb and I thought was very worthwhile,&uot; he said. &uot;So we tried to push it along. We felt it would be good for the community.&uot;

The park is a very popular place right now and Moll expects that to continue that way.

&uot;It definitely gets used,&uot; he said.

Tolzmann was unavailable for comment.