Buttonwood Park cancels all of its regular activities

Ice jams along the Maumee River caused serious damage at Buttonwood Park in Perrysburg Township.
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Spring soccer, fishing the Maumee River, and other recreational activities are canceled for the foreseeable future at Buttonwood Park in Perrysburg Township because of the heavy damage in recent days from ice jams along the river.

Township officials said the park is closed until repairs can be made from the ice and flooding, including to the washed out parking lots and a 10-foot deep sinkhole at the entrance to the park.

Officials from the Wood County Park District, which owns and operates the park, said “all the amenities are pretty much gone.”

PHOTO GALLERY: Buttonwood Park wrecked by ice

“There’s no fencing, no gates, no informational kiosk,” said Jeff Baney, assistant director of the park district. “The soccer field sustained a lot of damage. The parking lots — there’s nothing left of them.”

Hull Prairie Road, which leads to the park, also was badly damaged. About two-thirds of the road was reduced to mud and rubble and is littered with large holes. Walt Celley, township administrator, said the township is still assessing the situation.

“The road is so heavily damaged, normal vehicle travel is impossible,” Mr. Celley said. “We’ll get our engineer out there to see what our options are and what it’ll cost to repair the road. We’ll be working on that this week.”

Typically this time of year, Buttonwood would be most busy with fishermen looking to catch walleye and white bass. Spring soccer leagues would be practicing at the park and later playing games. Because of the damage, neither will take place.

“We can’t accommodate that this year,” Mr. Baney said. “Even if we could get the fields ready, we have no parking lots. It’s a dangerous situation.”

Justen Harman, president of the Perrysburg Soccer Club, said teams have moved their practices and games to fields at Rivercrest Park in the City of Perrysburg and the Perrysburg soccer complex on State Route 199.

The flood damaged goals and other club equipment, none of which is covered by insurance, Mr. Harman said.

The Black Swamp InterTribal Foundation Powwow set for September also could be delayed. An open area where tribes performed ceremonial dances, along with three long houses used for camping, were destroyed, Mr. Baney said.

The parks district doesn’t have flood insurance. Park funds will be used for repairs.

“We know we’re going to flood every year, so we minimize what we put there,” Mr. Baney said. “But this was excessive.”

Contact RoNeisha Mullen at: rmullen@theblade.com, 419-343-3299.