For years, the lot next to the Community of Christ Church in the Heights sat empty, save for an occasional neighborhood kid tromping through or a few deer from the banks of the nearby Yellowstone River.

“We’ve always wanted to do something with it, something for the community,” said Linda Martell, whose husband, Gil, is the church’s pastor.

“There are a lot of families and little kids that were just playing in the parking lot, so it became a need in the community.”

Dedicated to community

After two years of work — including countless volunteer hours and thousands of dollars — church members and other volunteers have transformed the empty lot into the Community Garden of Peace, a small park that was dedicated last month to the community and the church, which sits at 332 Griffing Drive.

While the quarter-acre park off Bench Boulevard is not yet finished, there are pathways running through it and grass has grown, making it ready and available for use.

“It has been an important outreach activity for the congregation, and there are lots of children in the neighborhood, and they do use it extensively,” said Carl Thuesen, a congregation member and landscape architect who helped design the park. “Now that we’ve got some green grass, they’re always riding bikes around or playing tag in it.”

Work at the park will resume in the spring, including installing picnic tables, a barbecue area and statues created by an artist from Deer Lodge.

When Gil Martell talks about the statues, it’s obvious they will be among his favorite features of the park. A few weeks after the dedication, which drew about 60 people, his voice still lights up when describing a few of the seven sculpted figures that are planned.

“There’s a Christ figure kneeling and washing the feet of a disciple, a person holding out a can, a mother and a child, someone playing the guitar,” he said. “It’s the sense of community being projected around the sculpture.”

Ideas aplenty

Two years ago, the area was overrun with weeds and tall grass. Different ideas about what to do with the spot were kicked around before settling on a community-oriented park.

Work began in the summer of 2007 with clearing the field, followed by concrete work and installation of a well. The next year, congregation members, neighbors and other volunteers put in an irrigation system and sprinklers and seeded the area with grass.

This year, plantings and plant beds were finished.

Thuesen, who helped design the Par 3 and Peter Yegen golf courses and the grounds at both Billings hospitals, said the vision was to make it a family-friendly place.

The park wasn’t built with church funds. Instead, donations were solicited from congregation members, and local businesses contributed or discounted supplies. Some neighbors volunteered to help with the work, Gil Martell said, and a local Boy Scout troop even got involved.

“Already, this park has the community essence of involvement,” he said. “We hope it will bring healing and peace.”