Big hug for McEuen

With McEuen Park ready to fling open its arms in official fashion Saturday, be prepared to utter the following three statements:

1. "Holy cow! There are more people here in one day than I've seen at the former McEuen in a decade!"

2. "Wonder what the anti-McEuenites think now?"

3. "Wish this had been here when I was a kid!"

We've talked to dozens of park visitors in the past couple weeks and these are versions of what we've heard from almost every one of them.

Considering that the park isn't even complete - and in fact, that a number of the features initially included in the design had to be dropped because of cost considerations - visitors have been blown away with what they've seen there.

As opposed to its chain-link-fence-segmented and virtually inaccessible predecessor, this McEuen looks better and a whole lot bigger than the former fields. When people say it's bound to become the central outdoor gathering place for visitors and residents alike, we can't argue with them. Other than City Beach on hot summer afternoons, McEuen likely will have no rivals in popularity.

But we get ahead of ourselves. And today we offer you a chance to get ahead of yourself, too.

Inside today's Press is a special publication about McEuen. On the eve of the park's grand opening, the special section will explain some of the highlights of the place, provide stories on design and construction challenges and breakthroughs, and even take you through the evolution of what once was home to military barracks and a junkyard.

We leave it to you to decide if the park is worth more than $20 million, and whether or not Coeur d'Alene's urban renewal agency should have borne the vast majority of weight in carrying this project. What's not debatable is the notion that when you visit McEuen, it's perfectly OK to be a kid again.