Parks are much more than just open spaces.

In addition to the expanse of outdoors for families to gather or as a venue for recreational sports, parks can serve as community gathering sites for a variety of other activities such as food bank distributions and festivals.

Maximizing that potential is exactly what community leaders are hoping for in a grant request currently being proposed for enhancements to O’Banion Park in Dos Palos The County is seeking $8.5 million in state grant funding for a project renovation that would include adding picnic shelters, building on the existing Del Hale Hall, and moving the County Library branch in Dos Palos to the expanded space.

Another $3.5 million is being sought in Community Development Block Grant monies for the project.

County grant writer Patti Dosetti says the request offers four alternatives for the Park that entail the rehabilitation of the existing Del Hale building all the way up to replacing the fifty year plus structure. “We’re excited about the prospects,” Patti says. “The current building was constructed in the 1960s.”

The County got a planning grant for designing the proposed changes.

Work with that planning grant is already underway. Patti Dosetti says the key to success for the grant is community involvement. The County has been seeking input from area residents and others about how the Park can maximize use by the public.

It’s hoped the state grant will come through in spite of heavy competition for the funds, including some competition within the County. In the last round, sixty-two projects received funding from four-hundred, seventy-eight applications.

The proposed for enhancements to O’Banion Park and Del Hale Hall offer a lot more than what is written in the grant application. Improving the community space may also draw attention to the legacies of the two men whose names are part of the Park and community hall.

Often, parks are named after respected community leaders.

The names of Emory O’Banion and Del Hale do not immediately bring back memories from their work on behalf of Merced County citizens.

They were honored in the mid-1960s, so a long time has passed since the County Board of Supervisors dedicated the Park and community center in their respective names.

Emory O’Banion served on the Merced County Board of Supervisors for nineteen years. He represented the district that includes Dos Palos and Los Banos. He also served on the elementary school board and the War Ration Board.

His life work was farming and politics. Emory’s son Jerry served in the same district as Supervisor from 1990 to 2018. Emory’s grandson Jeremy is the current President of the Dos Palos Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees.

“My grandfather passed before I was born,” said Jeremy O’Banion. “But I know he and Del Hale were partners on some projects.”

Those partnerships included a cattle company and land holdings.

Del Hale was a County Parks and Recreation Commissioner who served from 1945 to 1975. His life work was in an insurance business now known as Stocking and Cozzi in Dos Palos.

In his lifetime, he was highly respected and well-liked by his colleagues and friends. Patti Dosetti shared a story she found about Del Hale in her work on the grant proposal.

“He was known to go to area hospitals on Christmas to bring presents and companionship to those who were unable to be at home for the holiday.”

Jeremy O’Banion says Emory and Del donated the original ten acres that helped establish the Park back in the 1960s.

After Emory passed, his children sold the remaining ten acres to the County. The Park spans twenty acres.

If the grant is approved, work could begin right away. The job would be completed by the year 2025.

When that happens, the community will once again know a little bit more about the two men who were honored more than fifty years ago with the naming of O’Banion Park and Del Hale Hall.

Just like the Park and community center, the legacies of Emory O’Banion and Del Hale will be revitalized as well.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced

His book Can Do Californians is available at BarnesandNobel.com and at Lulu.com