By Friends of Lafortune Park
CALEDONIA/DUNNVILLE — Lafortune Park in Caledonia is becoming a better home to local flying creatures thanks to the efforts of woodworkers at Dunnville Secondary School.
In early 2024, Charlie Tirone – a teacher from the Technological Studies Department at Dunnville Secondary – and his woodworking students partnered with the Friends of Lafortune Park to build 16 birdhouses and three bat boxes for Lafortune Park. These were installed in late November 2024 by the Friends of Lafortune Park.
We are very grateful to Tirone and his woodworking team for their time and excellent workmanship on this project. The students have been invited to come to the park to see the birdhouses and bat boxes in action.
Late April is the peak nesting season for swallows and blue birds. We expect to see a great deal of activity this spring.
The three bat boxes were installed in the upper portion of Lafortune Park. This is a new venture and it’s our hope that attracting more bats to the park will help control the mosquito population, as well as support dwindling bat habitats.
The Friends of Lafortune Park have completed many improvement projects in the park over the last 10 years thanks to financial assistance received through Haldimand County’s grant program. In addition to grants, our group receives annual funding through a Field and Parks Maintenance agreement with Haldimand County. This funding covers any expenses incurred toward a variety of maintenance tasks that we provide in the park.
If you are interested in the preservation and improvement of Lafortune Park, please come out and join us. We are a fun, ambitious group and everyone is welcome.
Membership is $10 per year. For more information, please visit our group’s Facebook page or email friendsoflafortunepark@gmail.com.
Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. in a classroom at McKinnon Park Secondary School in Caledonia. During the summer months we meet in the lower pavilion at Lafortune Park.
