Kennedy Memorial Park is Vandergrift's largest park, but it can be awfully cramped at times.
A recent car show enjoyed a nice turnout, but "it was very tight," Council President Brian Carricato said.
Events such as this weekend's Festa Italiana don't fare any better.
A multi-phase, multi-year plan to improve the park will begin by moving its large, fenced-in baseball field to open up more space for events.
"We want to make it functional and practical," Carricato said.
The park exists on what was once a valley, which was filled in long ago with slag from the town's steel mill, said businessman Anthony Ferrante, project manager for the park revamp.
Nothing could be built on the land, so it was donated to the town for use as a park.
Its features include three baseball fields, five tennis courts, two basketball courts, a playground and a gazebo.
The park has become old, outdated and rundown, which is distressing to lifelong resident Lenny Collini, a councilman who chairs the council's parks and recreation committee.
"This is where we played. This is where we met our friends. This is where we hung out," Collini said.
"We want to re-create this park again and bring it back to a place everybody can enjoy," he said.
The effort to improve the park could be done in four to six phases and take three to four years.
To start, council has approved removing the fence around the large baseball field's outfield.
It should come down in about a month.
"Without this fence, it opens it up," Carricato said.
The field will pivot to the other side of the park, known as the "wheat field," and will be ready for use in spring.
It will take the place of a smaller field there; another field on the opposite side near the playground will remain.
Moving the baseball field will make way for a winding walkway through the newly open space, with benches and electrical outlets for events.
In the second phase next year, a new stage will be built where the backstop now stands along the back of the clubhouse building.
Moving the baseball field and building the stage will not cost any tax money, Carricato said.
Volunteer labor will go toward both, and money the borough received from Dreamworks Studios for the filming of "I Am Number Four" in town last year will cover the cost of materials for the new stage.
The borough received $15,000. Of that, $5,000 was used for new parking meters.
Using the money for the stage will satisfy the film company's wish that it be used for something lasting.
"It was a donation from Hollywood. That movie came in for two days," Collini said. "We're getting a permanent stage."
Improving the park's electrical service, tennis and basketball courts and playground are also planned. Officials will search for grants to pay for it, Collini said.
Carricato stressed that though the park will change, every group and organization that uses it now will still be able to do so.
"No one will be kicked out," he said. "It's going to be conducive for each and every organization that uses it. There's not going to be one organization that will lose, be neglected or eliminated."
Carricato said improving the park will boost the value of bordering homes, which he hopes will spur homeowners to spruce up their properties.
"People say the Casino Theater is the showpiece of downtown," said Ferrante, the theater's vice president. "This will be the showpiece up here."
