DEXTER — A new trail, picnic spot and boat launch area at Fish Island Park will be opened today, concluding about five years of work at the site.

“It’s really a nice place,” said Robert J. Thomas, the Jefferson County legislator who has been chairman for the project. “It’s really turned into quite the beautiful spot.”

The trail will feature several accommodations that will allow visitors with disabilities to exercise.

Mr. Thomas said several hundred people had either volunteered time or donated money to help get the project together. Many residents paid to have bricks with their names added to the park.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen people move on so many different things,” he said.

The space features dedications for three police officers: David J. Lane, a state trooper who was killed in a car crash in the Catskills in November 2009; Samuel A. Johnson Sr., the Dexter police chief who was shot and killed while responding to a police call on Pillar Point in 1987; and Richard E. Sanford, a retired state trooper who died in 2004.

The park off Canal Street will feature stones honoring military veterans from the area and those stationed at Fort Drum.

A ceremony to open the park will take place at 2 p.m. today.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer