The downtown park and festival grounds planned by Kingfisher Trails Inc. in the city’s West Bottom has a new name – Newfield Community Park – to honor the project’s largest contributor to date.

Kingfisher city commissioners voted on the name, recommended by Trails President John Gooden, after Newfield Foundation donated a half million dollars toward the project’s completion.

The grant came in the form of the Newfield Foundation’s 2019 “Vision Award,” described by the foundation as “a special grant given to those charities who are making a real difference in the lives of those in your community, and the community where Newfield employees live and work.”

Newfield Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Newfield Exploration, the oil and gas company that has been a leader and one of the biggest players in the recent oil boom in the STACK, which includes Kingfisher County.

Newfield was recently purchased by Encana, a Canadian energy company, in a sale that was finalized last week.

Commenting on the Vision Award, Cindy Hassler, Newfield’s corporate communications manager, said this:

“The Newfield Foundation’s mission is aligned with the company’s core values of giving back to the communities where our employees and stakeholders live and work. We recognize that being a good neighbor is not just something we talk about, but something we endeavor to demonstrate every day.

“Our Foundation has selected and supported a number of local charities throughout the years who are making a real difference in the lives of those in their community.

“Kingfisher Trails is one of those charities who is focused on creating a green space for the local citizens that encompasses a number of activities including sports fields, trails and a concert venue.

“The Newfield Foundation recognizes the vision and leadership of the city of Kingfisher and Kingfisher Trails, and is proud to support their efforts with a $500,000 Vision Grant.

This grant will be used in the construction of a new park that will help enhance the environment and quality of life for every resident of Kingfisher.“

The master design for the park, constructed on a combination of properties purchased and cleared by the city through its FEMA-funded flood buyout project and additional properties purchased by or donated to Trails, includes a band shell, water feature and sports fields, in addition to tree-shaded green space that can be used for outdoor festivals.

Gooden had previously secured a $350,000 grant through the national park service that Kingfisher Trails is seeking to match through local donations.

Gooden said he’s hoping to apply the same multiplier effect for the Newfield donation by utilizing the Vision Grant as seed money for additional grants.

“We’ll be working out how best to employ the funds,” Gooden said. “Our principle task will be to see that they are multiplied as ‘matching funds’ for other grants.”