Heavy equipment operator Britt Lohon may have been the first person to get an opportunity to play on the future site of the Youth Clubs of Park County’s expanded playground. Lohon “had a blast” knocking down a dilapidated building on the Hamilton Street property that has been in the way of the plans for almost a decade.

Owner of Midway Construction and Dirt Work, Pete Baxendale had just as much fun watching as the wood and cinder block building came tumbling down.

“Our usual day includes cleaning canals and digging ditches. This is a fun day for us,” he said.

The childcare and youth mentoring organization has been trying to fund the removal of the building for almost 10 years, said Tina Bernard, executive director of the non-profit.

“This has been an eyesore for years for everybody in the community,” Bernard said. “So we’re super happy it’s coming down.”

Most recently, the organization took bids for the demolition in 2015, but plans fell through, Bernard said. Then Victor Riley, a Cody philanthropist who passed in 2018, left the organization a generous gift in his will that allowed the club to jumpstart plans.

“Mr. Riley took very, very good care of us when he passed away,” Bernard said. “He just wanted us to carry on his legacy and make it as fun for the kids as possible.”

Many others in the community have pitched in — including Baxendale giving the organization a deep discount in the demolition bill and Park County commissioners waiving up to $20,000 worth of landfill fees to dispose of the rubble.

Earlier this month, Bernard explained to commissioners that the Youth Clubs had enough money to cover the tipping fees. However, “that would not allow us to be able to fence that in and finish the playground ... for the kids to play,” she said.

The organization spent $16,000 on asbestos abatement and expected the tear down cost to come in around $13,500, Bernard said, while guessing the landfill fees would come in somewhere between $5,000 and $20,000.

“When it comes to all the cinder blocks and everything, it does add up a lot to a nonprofit like this group,” Commissioner Scott Mangold said of the fees, adding that the organization has “been hurt during COVID times.”

Although hundreds of thousands of dollars flowed to Youth Clubs of Park County from the CARES Act, revenue for the group still plummeted in 2020, as the clubs were closed for part of the year due to the pandemic. Amid county government budget cuts last year, commissioners reduced their own support of the organization to $9,000 — a $4,133 drop from the year before.

Commissioners voted unanimously on Feb. 2 to waive the landfill fees for the building rubble.

“You guys are awesome, as always,” Bernard told the board, adding she was “so excited to get that eyesore down.”