MARSHALL — Lyon County’s Garvin Park has been selected for a second Legacy Grant to update park facilities, Lyon County Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder said this week. The park has been picked to receive $926,809 in funding to continue building updates including camper cabins, he said.

“This grant is primarily going to be for the camper cabins,” Schroeder said. “We’re looking at four of them.” Construction would likely be in 2025, he said.

This week, the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission announced it had chosen a total of 14 parks and trails projects around the state to receive a total of $16.3 million in Legacy Grant funding. The next step will be for the Minnesota Legislature to approve the funding.

Garvin Park was chosen to be one of two funding recipients in the southwest Minnesota region. The Greater Mankato River Valley Trail System was also selected to receive about $1.2 million, the Parks and Trails Commission said in a news release.

Camper cabins are an amenity available at some other parks in the area, including Lake Shetek State Park, Plum Creek Park near Walnut Grove, and Memorial Park in Granite Falls.

“It is becoming popular throughout the state,” Schroeder said. It’s an option that works well for people who don’t have an RV, or don’t want to camp in a tent, he said. “Also, plenty of people like the park experience, and don’t want to stay in a hotel.”

The cabins planned for Garvin Park would be located at the park’s current primitive campground area. The layout of the cabins would be “very simple,” Schroeder said. The cabins would each have space for bunk beds inside, and would have a porch and outdoor grill.

As part of the grant project, Schroeder said the picnic shelter at the Garvin Park ball field would also be replaced.

“We’re trying to revive that ball field area,” he said.

This summer, Lyon County had applied for a total of $1.78 million in Legacy Grant funding to continue making improvements at Garvin Park. In 2021, the county received more than $1.1 million for construction of items like a new main picnic shelter and restroom updates.

Schroeder said some items in this year’s application, like the camper cabins, were originally part of the 2021 grant request, but had been removed at the request of the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission. Pulling the cabins from the 2021 request helped allow the Parks and Trails Commission to fund more projects, he said.

“We’re so blessed to have the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission,” Schroeder said. It was “really encouraging” to see the support being shown to smaller parks throughout Minnesota, he said.

Schroeder said county parks like Garvin Park do see a lot of use from the public. In addition to camping, Garvin Park is popular for day visits, and for horseback riders interested in trail riding, he said.

“We are seeing longer stays,” he said, possibly because the county now allows campers to reserve campsites.