Over the river and under the old bridge, find Archery Park (slideshow)
On a sunny day, Matt Priebe and Mickey Hapka sat under a shady tree at a picnic table in a picturesque Shakopee park. Priebe ate his lunch, and then went to his trunk for his bow and arrow.
His plan? To teach Hapka how to shoot.
From Shakopee – where Priebe of Eagan and Hapka of Minneapolis both work – cross over to the north side of the Minnesota River on Highway 101, take the first right, go through the parking lot, follow the road past the boat launch, take the gravel road under the Highway 101 and the abandoned bridge it replaced, and you will find the city of Shakopee’s archery range.
Despite Archery Park’s proximity to two highways, it’s strangely serene there. It’s a hidden treasure.
A few years after safety concerns left archers and bowhunters without a range in Shakopee, the city’s partnership with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Scott County, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Lower Minnesota River Watershed District enabled the archer’s committee of the Shakopee Downtown Partnership and the Minnesota River Valley Chapter of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association to create, maintain, and improve a place for area archers and bowhunters to practice.
As part of the Huber Park project two years ago, the range was built for $40,000 on the former site of a baseball park. Flooding wreaked havoc on the ballfield, ruining many a spring game, but since springtime isn’t prime time for archery – hunting season is – an out-of-sight place nearby the river was perfect. The targets are removed during flood season.
“It just became a natural fit,” said Mark Themig, the county parks manager who worked on the project years earlier as a city employee.
The range consists of areas for beginners and advanced shooters, as well as broadhead shooting areas for bowhunters, according to the city.
In addition to the standard static traditional range, according to the city, Archery Park will have interactive three-dimensional targets, has separate youth and adult shooting areas, eventually a handicap-accessible deer stand, and will allow for picnic tables and a canopy shelter.
“Every year, we want to add on,” said Dave Menden, a member of the deer hunter’s association that helps keep up the park.
This year, seven new targets and one fixed-up target will be added to the seven that are already at the site, placed at varying distances and tailored to different exercises.
“Eventually, we want about 25,” Menden said.
Schools with archery physical education programs utilize the park for after-school activities and competitions. It also gives the parks and recreation department, 4-H, Scouts, and other local groups a site at which they can conduct archery programs and competitions.
Children participate in classes taught by deer hunter’s association members, and the 100-member club – about 20 of whom are active at the range – hopes to hold competitions there in the future. The phy ed classes have helped increase local popularity of the sport and the park.
“Expose them to archery, generate interest, and then see where it goes,” Shakopee Recreation Supervisor Brad Eller said.
It’s affordable recreation.
“It’s free,” Eller said. “It’s there. Everybody’s invited to use it.”
Priebe and Hapka chose a quiet time to visit and a good time to learn, as did recent classes of 9- to 10- and 10- to 11-year-old children that received formal lessons later in the day.
July and August are the busy seasons at the park, because bowhunting season is within sight. And Archery Park will again be a bustling place, a “destination range” drawing from throughout the region around Shakopee, Themig said.
For more information about the Minnesota River boat launch and archery range or other Shakopee parks, go to http://www.ci.shakopee.mn.us/park_development.cfm.
Here are some photos taken at the park:
Related news:
- The National River Port Management Company hires new CEO
- The National River Port Management Company hires new CEO
- Correction: Bridge to the Mini-Met
- Correction: Bridge to the Mini-Met
- Project 282: It won’t be long (slideshow)
