Welcoming the Pioneer Disc Golf Course from Kiwanis of Milton-Freewater!

Quotes Courtesy of Ryan Westman

Having started playing Disc Golf nearly 20 years ago, Ryan Westman, President-Elect of Kiwanis Club of Milton-Freewater, has played “about 100 different courses from Missouri to California, Oregon, and Washington. It’s a great pastime, it gets you out in the outdoors being active, and it’s a great family activity too; I’ve played with my cousins, uncles, parents, and grandparents. And now my young kids are getting into it.” Since the Pandemic, Disc Golf has been one of the fastest-growing sports on the planet, with millions of people playing per year; Interestingly, one of the largest leaps in interest is in Mexico!

Shortly after Ryan moved here for a new job at the City of Milton-Freewater, he decided to join Kiwanis Club because he strongly identified with the Mission Statement: Improving the world one child and one community at a time. Kiwanians have taken on a variety of different projects such as the Beer Fest, Easter Egg hunt in partnership with Rotary Club, scholarships for high schoolers in the area. They work with Key Club for their Stuffed Backpacks program, warm clothing drive in the fall, and the Walk for Warmth- where participants raise funds to help people in need pay their utility bills.

Ryan knew he wanted to bring the sport to Milton-Freewater. Last Fall, the EURUS Foundation released a grant opportunity for permanent improvements to the community, and Ryan had already done a significant amount of work preparing a proposal and approaching the City of Milton-Freewater about installing a course, thinking that Marie Dorion Park would be a great location. This grant opened the doors for this project; the Kiwanians agreed to apply for the grant- and they got it! In March 2023, a work group from the Kiwanis Club broke ground consisting of Ryan, Corky York, Mick York, Vern Rodighiero, and Buck Rohan. They coordinated with Parks and Recreation Supervisor, Matt Chesnut, on tee-pad and basket locations, they hauled 60-lb bags of concrete up the hill, they poured concrete, they excavated, and they paid for supplies themselves that the grant did not cover. Additionally, the entire club, with the help of numerous volunteers from the community, they gave the park a massive facelift on April 15th, National Make A Difference Day, repainting buildings and the retaining wall!

This small but mighty group completed the course in 7 workdays, and built for us the Pioneer Disc Golf Course! As for Ryan’s hopes and dreams, he says he wants “to see a course that gets used by a lot of responsible parkgoers.” He hopes that the Pioneer Disc Golf Course “will be something the community and the area can really enjoy, and bring something positive to the park as well, because it’s suffered so much lately from misuse.” Many of us believe that more foot traffic at the park will result in less graffiti/tagging and destruction of the area, and that a cleaner, more beautiful park will improve the quality of life for everyone who visits it.

The Pioneer Disc Golf course might be complete, but it’s far from finished; “honestly, I’ve always wanted to make things better and I’ve always had it in my imagination to expand to an 18-hole course.” It currently being a 9-hole course, Pioneer Disc Golf Course and Marie Dorion Park are ripe with expansion opportunity. Ryan would like to give special shoutouts to the Kiwanians for taking on this project and paying for other expenses out of pocket, the City of Milton-Freewater for approving the installation, the City and Rural Fire Departments for cleaning up the brush on the hill, all those in the community who helped clean up the park, and, of course, to the EURUS Foundation for granting them these funds and the opportunity to do something special for our community. 

Cheers to more play, more fun, and a more beautiful place to live!

For those interested in finding more about Kiwanis or about the Pioneer Disc Golf Course, visit the Facebook page or reach out to Ryan. 308-530-5448 or ryanwwestman@gmail.com