Oscar Scherer State Park held a ribbon cutting ceremony last Saturday to open the first phase of its accessible new fishing pier and boardwalk, a project that has been in the works for almost 15 years. More than $300,000 was raised to complete Phase One of the project—constructing one leg of the fishing pier out into the three-acre freshwater Lake Osprey along with the central platform. 

Contributions from the nonprofit volunteer group Friends of Oscar Scherer Park, as well as from the William G. and Marie Selby Foundation and the Florida State Parks Foundation, led to the completion of Phase One. In Phase Two, the roof over the central platform will be constructed, and phase three will include the construction of the pier’s second leg.