Community members, local leaders, and state officials gathered Monday to celebrate the groundbreaking of a $9.5 million renovation project that will transform Lamont Park with new recreational facilities designed by and for Lamont residents.
The project was funded with more than $6.5 million in Proposition 68 state grant funding and County investment and will bring a variety of new features to the park, including a lighted soccer field, splash pad, shaded playgrounds, outdoor fitness equipment, multipurpose courts, and a community pavilion.
County officials said the project represents one of the largest park investments Kern County has taken on in recent years.
“This isn’t just a park that was designed in an office far, far away,” said Kern County Chief General Services Officer Michelle Burns-Lusich. “The improvements of this park came from the imaginations of the people who will be using it most.”
According to Burns-Lusich, local organizations worked with Lamont youth over several years to identify amenities they wanted most in the park. The resulting design reflects ideas gathered through community meetings and outreach efforts led by local advocacy groups, residents, and the Boys & Girls Club of Kern County’s Lamont Club.
“Because of that incredible collaboration, we are getting a space that truly reflects the heart and soul of Lamont,” she said.
The groundbreaking marked a major milestone for community advocates who have pushed for improvements to Lamont Park for more than a decade.
Gustavo Aguirre of the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment (CRPE) said local organizations have worked alongside county officials for years to secure funding and keep the project moving forward.
“We’re working mostly with rural communities, including Lamont,” Aguirre said. “Comité Progreso de Lamont has been here for many years. We provided support letters and helped have community meetings as needed to go through this process. We’re so happy that we are seeing this. Congratulations to Lamont, to the community of Lamont.”
Among those celebrating the groundbreaking was Diana, a member of Comité Progreso de Lamont, who reflected on the role residents played in shaping the project and remembered one community advocate who did not live to see construction begin.
“When they started having the meetings and had the youth see the plans and say what they wanted in this park, it was exciting,” she said. “Everything came from the vision of youth.”
She also recalled Jose Mireles, a co-founder of Comité Progreso de Lamont, who had long advocated for a splash pad at the park.
“I remember when we got approval for the Prop 68 funding, he was crying like a kid because finally it was going to be improved,” she said. “Unfortunately, he passed away. He’s not here to see all this improvement, but I know he will be happy.”
The project was developed through a partnership involving Kern County, local community organizations, and the Boys & Girls Club of Kern County’s Lamont Club.
Margie Madera, senior area program director for the Boys & Girls Club, said local teenagers not only helped design the project but also learned how public funding and community advocacy work.
“One of the goals of Boys & Girls Club is for the kids, the youth, to use their voice,” Madera said. “This was one of those opportunities. They got to use their voice. They got to give their input. They got to be an example of that, and this project is a great example.”
Madera said some of the teenagers who participated in the planning process have since graduated and become young adults, but their connection to the project remains.
“The teens that are now graduated from my program and are young adults in their lives are always going to be able to drive by the park and say, ‘I was part of that,'” she said. “One of our main purposes is that they get to advocate for their community.”
Youth representative Christina echoed that sentiment during the ceremony.
“We would like to thank everyone for giving us the opportunity to be part of this project,” Christina said. “We are excited about the improvements to Lamont Park and committed to helping keep it clean and welcoming for our community.”
Fourth District Supervisor David Couch said the park’s location next to a school, library, and Boys & Girls Club makes it one of the community’s most valuable public spaces.
“What I find so really cool about this park and its location is most communities don’t have a park adjacent to a school, adjacent to a library, across the street from a Boys & Girls Club, and kind of in the middle of a neighborhood as well,” Couch said. “It just fits.”
Couch acknowledged that the process took years and said residents had reason to wonder whether construction would ever begin.
“I know we got awarded the money in 2021, so the process to even come up with the ideas and concepts started before that,” he said. “I don’t blame you if you thought it was never going to happen, but it is actually now. It is actually happening.”
Officials said inflation and rising construction costs forced some elements from the original design to be postponed, including a planned skate park that youth identified as a top priority. Community leaders said they intend to continue pursuing funding to complete the remaining portions of the project.
Once completed, the renovated park is expected to serve as a central gathering place for residents of all ages, offering expanded recreation opportunities and a renewed community space built from ideas that originated with the people who call Lamont home.
