If you live in or around Missoula, Montana or are planning a trip there sometime this fall, be sure to plan a visit to see Silver Park, a 14 ½ acre park under construction located on an old mill site along the Clark Fork River (right) in Missoula’s city district. The riverfront, while gorgeous, doesn’t have a lot of things to shelter visitors from the sun and elements. Missoula engineer Jennifer Anthony, who has a passion for everything related to timber and timber framing, came up with the fabulous idea to have three timber bench shelters built for the park.
The Timber Framers Guild, always ready to be involved in community efforts, held a design competition for the shelters in conjunction with the International Log Builders Association. Three winners from the 34 design entries were announced last year and include a design submitted by our own Jeremy Bonin.
The Guild chose Jeremy’s design to be the featured project of a five-day workshop September 22 - 26 because it “will give participants an excellent opportunity for honing their skills in compound joinery”. The other two winning shelter designs, by Jeffrey Stahlecker of Hamilton, MT and Joseph Scarpa with Benjamin Nia of Millville, New Jersey, will be constructed at Missoula’s Ogren ballpark and brought to the Silver Park site at the end of the workshop week.
Home Resource, a non-profit organization that collects and sells reusable building materials, will be the host of the Timber Framers Guild workshop and is the driving force behind the project (along with Jennifer Anthony). Home Resource plans to provide the salvaged wood for the shelters -- timbers from an old mill that is on the existing Silver Park site and 80-year old sinker logs. These recycled materials will showcase the rich history of both the logs and the local mills in the community park shelter. 
Volunteers and donations are still needed for the project. If you want to help, contact one of the coordinators listed below. Joel McCarty, Executive Director of the Timber Framer’s Guild, assures visitors, “We will find meaningful work for everyone that walks down there and asks what they can do.”
To volunteer or make a donation, click here.
Also read recent articles in the local newspaper, The Missoulian:
http://missoulian.com/articles/2008/08/06/news/mtregional/news06.txt
Friday, August 8, 2008
Silver Park Project, Missoula, Montana
Jackie Lampiasi, Marketing Director
Bonin Architects & Associates, PLLC
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