“There are no words” – Manmeet Singh Bhullar Park opening next summer
Posted Jun 22, 2017 4:56 pm.
Last Updated Jun 22, 2017 5:14 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Perhaps when people gather in a new Taradale park set to open next summer, they’ll open with “Nice to Manmeet You” instead of the usual hello.
On Thursday, Parks Foundation Calgary announced plans for the Manmeet Singh Bhullar Park, in honour of the former MLA who died less than two years ago.
The event was shared on social media with the #nicetomanmeetyou, a slogan of Bhullar’s.
“There are no words,” his widow Namrita Rattan said. “There were so many nights that Manmeet wouldn’t come home because he was helping a Calgarian or helping someone, and now it makes it for me, those sacrifices so much more meaningful because people remember him.”
The PC MLA was killed in November 2015 after he was struck by a truck on QE2 Highway near Red Deer, after he had gotten out of his car to help a stranded driver.
The park is slated to open in the summer of 2018 and will connect with the Rotary/Mattamy Greenway pathway system.
The park will cover five hectares and will include groves of trees, a gathering plaza and special tables that can seat up to 20 people.
It’s just the latest honour in Bhullar’s memory, as a school in Martindale is also named after him.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said he wishes this never had to happen, but it’s also extremely touching to see tributes to his old friend.
“It literally is in my backyard,” he said. “It’ll be a place of contemplation, a place of connection with community, I love the fact that there’s going to be these giant tables that seat 20 people at a time, the whole thing is beautiful and I think a very fitting tribute to a really great man.”
The pathway system itself will open this September and will be the longest urban pathway in the world at 138 kilometres.
