On Saturday, September 25th, close friends and family gathered for the ribbon-cutting ceremony held at Nathan Haase Park.

The dedication of this park was in memory of Nathan Haase who passed away 10 years ago. It was spearheaded by his friends who worked in partnership with the Town of Strathmore.

Mayor Pat Fule along with Nathan's parents Brenda and Don Haase cut the ribbon to officially open the park in honour of Nathan. The Strathmore Fire Department was also in attendance with one of the fire trucks.

Haase grew up in Strathmore and was a volunteer firefighter. He passed away in 2011. His lifelong friend Preston Rusnack was thankful to finally see the park officially open as the Nathan Haase Park.

"Honestly after Saturday, it was kind of a huge relief. It's been a process, the Town of Strathmore has been great with that whole process and when I pitched the idea to the town council a year ago, it was a unanimous decision. They were awesome."

There were some delays in having the official ribbon-cutting ceremony due to COVID-19 but the structure has been in place for just over a year, with the memorial being designed by Rusnack's dad Sheldon and built by Heritage Concrete.

The park includes a baseball diamond and spaces to play soccer. Rusnack hopes to plan an annual baseball game and day of activities each year along with the annual golf tournament already held each year to raise money to improve the park, "Roughly we raised around the $10,000 mark every year. So, you know we're already talking about getting some dugouts done and then eventually, maybe some more trees. Maybe we'll do another play structure or some kind of bleachers by the soccer field."

When Rusnack looks back at his friendship with Nathan, he describes him as the guy who was always there no matter what. He was never sure how he managed to fit everything in but he always did.

Being lifelong Flames fans, Rusnack talked about some of his fondest memories with Nathan just sitting in the Saddledome cheering on the Flames like it was their second home.

There was never a doubt that Rusnack wanted to honour his friend, "You know, he was a big part of the community and it was just doing something so that his memory never would fade and that's why I started the golf tournament 10 years ago, we're going to raise money every year from the tournament and put it towards that park and just have it be a place for everyone to meet and hang out."

Rusnack hopes that this park will be somewhere residents can gather, celebrate their events in the coming years and have a space to make memories, he is grateful people can do that now in a place that honours his friend.