Island Grove Park

I SLAND GROVE PARK Going forward, Welch says the park’s recently completed Master Plan has several objectives. “We’re looking at a multi-use facility/indoor arena; that might be $10 or $12 million,” he muses. “The Greeley Stampede is looking into rebuilding the east end of our main arena. That would include a new stage facility. And because they have to run their rodeo out of that end of the arena, that stage will be set on hydraulics, so it will raise when they’re doing rodeo events, and then it will drop down and be set up for concerts. They’ll have a rodeo in the afternoon and bring in major country music acts at night. And they have five to six concerts each year.” Welch believes that the park’s many amenities, as well as his staff of 14 full-timers and 20-25 seasonal workers are the reason that he only needs to spend about half of his $4,000 marketing budget, each year. “We’re busy because of word of mouth and a lot of it has to do with our staff being so accommodating,” he states. “My staff prides itself on how we treat the people that are here. We work really hard to make sure people get to do what they want to do. Anybody on my staff will go out of their way to help any event that we’re doing. And we take that to heart. If you check with any of the people that utilize us, I’m sure they would rave about how accommodating we are.” A man who seems to have truly found his niche, Welch manages his Island Grove paradise from the confines of his office, originally built in the 1880s as a caretaker’s house. “When they hired me in the Parks Department, one of my first jobs was remodeling this office,” he remembers. “It wasn’t my office at the time. I always joke that if I had known it was going to be my office, I’d have done a better job. I think I probably have the nicest office in the City of Greeley, to be honest.”