{"id":42923,"date":"2025-11-07T19:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T19:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/42923\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T19:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T19:52:10","slug":"shafter-celebrates-grand-opening-of-la-colonia-community-park-with-special-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/42923\/","title":{"rendered":"Shafter celebrates grand opening of La Colonia community park with special events"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A once-vacant lot in Shafter has been transformed into a vibrant community park, marking a significant milestone for the tight-knit La Colonia neighborhood.  La Colonia Park grand opening, is set today for 2:30 p.m, and will feature remarks from city officials and members of the La Colonia nonprofit group, and others who have been instrumental in bringing this project to life since 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Dora Hernandez-Jara, a resident who&#8217;s lived in the neighborhood since she was child, expressed her excitement of the new park. &#8220;We had nothing; the kids played in the streets. Basketball in the streets. They congregated in the streets. So this is an awesome project, and it finally came to fruition,&#8221; says Hernandez-Jara.  &#8220;A lot of our families came from the same place in Texas or Mexico&#8230; I&#8217;ve been working in the community for over 50 years to develop it, so it&#8217;s just a very special project in my life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"La Colonia Park in Shafter, Ca PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX{ }{p}{\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/6aedd907-1157-41a4-92db-79773fb07aec-Image20251107T111431.957.jpg\"\/>La Colonia Park in Shafter, Ca PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX{ }<\/p>\n<p>The park holds personal significance for her son David Jara, as the land once belonged to his grandparents. &#8220;It&#8217;s more than just, like, a community thing, because it&#8217;s like, more family oriented for me,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>To celebrate the opening, a community event will be held from 5:00pm &#8211; 9:00pm featuring jumpers, free book giveaways, sports equipment for children and teens, food vendors, informational booths, a live DJ, and raffles.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"La Colonia Park in Shafter, Ca PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX{ }{p}{\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/b8c5d8da-8726-4e71-a2b5-ac7c1c9b235e-Image20251107T111436.076.jpg\"\/>La Colonia Park in Shafter, Ca PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX{ }<\/p>\n<p>The park&#8217;s opening is a testament to the community&#8217;s dedication and collaboration, providing a new space for residents to gather and enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>La Colonia Park is the only County operated park in the Shafter area. The other County-led project is the La Colonia sidewalk project, which is expected to be completed in December.<\/p>\n<p>La Colonia Park reflects Kern County\u2019s ongoing commitment to creating safe, healthy, and inclusive spaces that enhance the lives of residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A once-vacant lot in Shafter has been transformed into a vibrant community park, marking a significant milestone for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-42923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}