GILMAN — Amidst a backdrop of clear skies and temperatures in the mid 70s, Marshall County Conservation Director Emily Herring addressed a sizable crowd gathered near the new playground at Green Castle Recreation Area just south of Ferguson to celebrate a major milestone on Friday evening: the grand opening and ribbon cutting for the first 30 sites at the county park’s long-awaited campground.

Herring drew inspiration from a quote attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. — “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, have to keep moving forward” — as she reflected on the long journey to constructing a campground, which began in 2010 under her predecessor Mike Stegmann.

“Over the course of 15 years, not once did public support fade. We hit a few roadblocks along the way with anything else, but here we are today with an amazing campground,” she said.

She added that the second phase of the campground was completed on Thursday with the electricity turned on, and the Friends of Marshall County Conservation group led the fundraising charge for a new playground adjacent to where the audience that included State Rep. David Blom (R-Marshalltown) and State Sen. Kara Warme (R-Ames) was gathered. The two largest sources of funding for the campground project, which Herring estimated to cost about $1.2 million, were the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in the amount of $680,000 in federal dollars administered through the Marshall County Board of Supervisors and a Destination Iowa grant for $400,000. Other major contributors included the Martha Ellen Tye Foundation, the Community Foundation of Marshall County and a host of civic groups, businesses, individuals and families who made private donations. Weidner Construction of Marshalltown served as the general contractor, and Herring also credited Steel Construction for their efforts.

“It took an effort to make this happen. I think that’s proof in it right there,” she said. “And finally, I want to thank the people it wouldn’t have been possible without, and that’s the Marshall County Conservation Board, Friends of Marshall County Conservation, they were a huge help, and the staff. Conservation is truly a labor of love, and we are so lucky to have an incredible team here in Marshall County that is always striving to make Marshall County parks the best they can be.”

From there, it was time to cut a ribbon, and the crowd then dispersed to enjoy the playground, eat hot dogs served by the Friends of Marshall County Conservation and head down to the campground to hear live music by Marshalltown artist Buz Owen while also roasting s’mores and playing yard games with Tropical Sno set up with its signature shaved ice. After the ceremony, Herring spoke to the T-R about the excitement of finally crossing the finish line on a project that had previously seen so many stops and starts due to funding.

“It’s awesome. It’s been 15 years. It was put in our strategic plan back in 2010, so to be able to offer this to the public — and we have received nothing but amazing compliments about it — it’s just a great facility to be able to offer the public and the people of Marshall County and surrounding areas to use,” she said.

Herring, her husband Joe and their young children planned to camp on the grounds Friday, and she was happy to see so many other kids enjoying the amenities.

“It’s a great thing. We’ve slowly been adding infrastructure to Green Castle and improving what we have here and our other parks, but it’s not stopping with just this,” she said. “We have a new observatory that’s being constructed this month, and we also are gonna plan on putting in frisbee golf. So it’s always something that we’re growing and improving as funding and time allows.”

The new observatory was entirely funded by a private donor as a memorial, and Herring sees the frisbee golf course moving to the top of the list as well. The third and largest phase of the project is still looming in the future, which would add another 30 campsites to bring the total number to 60.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.