The Nico Project Is
Open!
After 19 months of fundraising and planning, and 8 weeks of construction,
the Nico Project opened on July 10th 2007, Nico's birthday.
Thanks!
Thank you to all of the people that helped make this project happen.
Well over 700 people took part in volunteer work and contributions.
Dozens of local companies volunteered their services and materials
to make
this happen. Hundreds more people attended fundraising events put
on for the project. And special thanks go out to the City of Chico
for giving us a corner of the best playground in our community to
build this park.
Ribbon Cutting July
19th 8AM Caper Acres
A public ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at the date and time
above. Chico's Mayor, our Park Director, and Nico Project volunteers
will briefly make statements.
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History
In December 2005 tragedy struck a local Chico family. Nico Cardoza,
a happy and healthy 16 month old little boy, died suddenly
and unexpectedly
one night in his crib. His family and friends were blindsided by
his passing. The sense of tragedy and loss can be felt by everyone,
even
if you didn’t know him or his family. Out of a desire to “do
something” in this time of sadness and grief, friends and
family of the Cardoza’s have been working towards building
a memorial play area in a local Chico park. See the mission
for this project.
On 2-27-06 the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission endorsed the project
based on the conceptual design and its location in Caper Acres. Roughly a year
later they formally approved the design. See our conceptual design
for the play area.
Organized fundraising efforts ended in 2007, and we raised close to $120,000
in 12 months. In 2007 the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission approved the
final design of the Nico Project.
Construction of the project in Caper Acres has began on May 7th 2007 and the
project was opened to the public on July 10th 2007 on Nico's birthday. The
various steps in construction of the project will be detailed in photographs
on this web site (see
the web page here).
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