With the squeals and laughter of children playing as background music, Sterling city officials and Riverfront Commission members and donors cut the ribbon Saturday to officially open the Northwestern Steel & Wire Park.

“It’s been a labor of love from the community to get it going,” said Marc Geil, co-chairman of the Sterling Riverfront Commission.

The park unofficially opened June 2 to coincide with the Union Pacific’s Big Boy locomotive whistle stop in Sterling.

“It feels wonderful. The fact that while we were cutting the ribbon there were dozens of children playing at the playground and the splash pad shows that this is a multi-generational park that is going to be used for a long, long time and a great investment by the city,” said Terry McGuire, co-chairman of the Sterling Riverfront Commission.

Mayor Diana Merdian welcomed guests to the park on the warm, sunny Saturday.

“We honor our past and embrace the progress that will propel us forward as we have already seen in this space, where our community and families will grow together,” Merdian said.

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The giant bucket empties at the splash pad at the Northwestern Steel & Wire Park at 201 Wallace St., Sterling, on June 13. (Brian Hurley)

The idea for the NWSW Park was born in 2022. The site of the park is part of the former Northwestern Steel and Wire Mill. The mill closed in 2001 and the site sat unused for several years. Former Sterling Mayor Skip Lee asked Geil and McGuire to steer the commission to develop the riverfront. The key component of that development would be a park.

“We laughed and said that’s got to be pretty easy. It turns out, it was not easy,” McGuire said.

In September 2024, the city awarded a $4.74 million contract to Sjostrom and Sons of Rockford to design and build the first phase of the park.

Geil led focus groups made up of different groups of Sterling residents and interests, from businesses and civic groups to private citizens and parent groups, to determine what should be included in a riverfront park complex.

McGuire and Geil led the Riverfront Commission through the process of coordinating with contractors and subcontractors, developing and implementing the design, and constructing the park.

“It was four years of a lot of work by a lot of people, by the city, by the members of the Riverfront Commission, who met every month for the last four years,” McGuire said.

McGuire thanked and congratulated Heather Sotelo, who led the fundraising and donor efforts. Sotelo is the executive director of the Greater Sterling Development Corporation and leads donor efforts for the Sterling Riverfront Foundation, the 501(c)3 fundraising arm of the Riverfront Commission.

“I can’t speak strongly enough for the credibility that Heather has in this community. When we reached out to donors, the fact that Heather was behind this and that Heather knew all of the information and had the vision is what helped us raise over $3 million to complete this portion of the park,” McGuire said.

The park features a fully accessible playground, a splash pad, a pavilion and park shelter, as well as Sunbolt solar-charging stations.

Future development, the second and third phases of the park plan, include a parking lot next to the splash pad and an amphitheater behind the pavilion, on the river side of the park. A veterans’ memorial will be located on the amphitheater side. The river side of the pavilion features a stage area.

The park was designed to be used year-round, McGuire said.

“We have a playground area that will turn into a winter playground with the ice skating ribbon and then we will be able to do a summer concert series on the stage area in back of the pavilion,” McGuire said.

McGuire credited Janna Groharing, executive director at Sterling Main Street, for her contributions to the amphitheater phase of the project.

“Janna was extremely instrumental in even the placement of our building so that on the amphitheater side, we would have the right lighting and conditions for concerts in the summertime,” he said.

Geil said the enthusiasm of donors for the project, from individuals to businesses and groups, shows their commitment to the city and its residents.

“There’s such a love for the community, for people in the community. Many of the donors we talked to, they wanted to be able to contribute, especially from their companies, to be able to create more of a welcoming and really great place for their employees to live,” Geil said.

The work on the park’s blended second and third phases will continue, McGuire said, and the Riverfront Commission and Riverfront Foundation will continue to meet and work on the park and the development of the Sterling riverfront.