Many Dayton, Ohio, residents have fond memories of visits to Lakeside Lake, which offered fishing opportunities and scenic views and was home to the popular Lakeside Amusement Park for 70 years. After the park closed in the 1960s, the banks of the 10-acre lake became overgrown and covered in debris and litter to the point that some nearby residents didn’t know the lake existed.
Lakeside Lake was restored to its former glory last year and is once again a prime spot for families to recreate, largely thanks to the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA) local volunteers and a $25,000 contribution from its Ohio State Conservation Dinner funds.
CityWide, the city of Dayton’s development partner, made the restoration of the lake part of its community strategy, believing its beautification is essential to community confidence and the ability to attract additional investment to West Dayton. The effort received a huge boost when the USA and the Ohio AFL-CIO—a federation of local labor unions representing approximately 600,000 workers across the state—joined the effort.