Campers gathered at Garvin Park’s upper campground this week. At this week’s Lyon County Board meeting, county commissioners approved both a request to apply for state grant funding for electrical and other upgrades at the campgrounds, and a request to expand the number of campsites that can be reserved.

MARSHALL — Lyon County is already in the process of making some big updates to facilities at Garvin Park. But there’s more that could be done, Lyon County Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder said this week.

On Tuesday, Schroeder asked county commissioners for their approval to apply for a Legacy Grant to continue with park improvements like electrical updates and replacing three picnic shelters.

In 2021, the county had received more than $1.1 million in grant funding for items like restroom updates and a new main picnic shelter. Schroeder said the new grant request would be for about $1.78 million.

In a presentation to the county board, Schroeder broke the request down into three project areas. One area would be to upgrade the electrical pedestals at Garvin Park’s lower and upper campgrounds. Another would be to make improve road access and build several camper cabins at what is now the park’s primitive campground area.

The camper cabins had originally been part of the county’s 2021 Legacy grant request for Garvin Park improvements. However, they removed at the request of the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission. “We were asked to pull them for other projects to get funded,” Schroeder said Friday.

The third major area of the grant request would include a variety of upgrades to park buildings, including replacing three more picnic shelters at the ball field, primitive camp and upper campground. The requested funding would also allow a new observation tower to be built at the park, Schroeder said.

If the county is awarded a Legacy Grant for the second part of park improvements, it would have a county match, Schroeder said. Based on the $1.78 million grant request, the county match would be about $198,000.

Commissioners voted to give approval for Schroeder to apply for Legacy Grant funding on the project.

The county could hear back on whether they will receive new grant funding by mid- to late fall, Schroeder said Friday.

The county is currently going through the process of making the Garvin Park improvements in the 2021 Legacy grant. This spring, part of the ongoing project hit a snag when construction bids for some of the updates came in much higher than anticipated. After taking parking lot resurfacing out of the project, and cutting down on the amount of concrete used around the main picnic shelter, the county went out for and approved a new bid earlier this month.

With a new bid approved, construction on the main picnic shelter area and a more accessible trail to the park’s warming house could potentially start in the next couple of weeks, Schroeder said Friday.