Chobani, Twin Falls partner on park project

Chobani announced a $250,000 donation at the end of last year in support of the Pole Line Eastland Trailhead Park development. The donation was selected by the employees in celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the company’s manufacturing facility in Twin Falls . Groundbreaking for the park is scheduled for 2023.

“It’s really fantastic that our employees themselves are the ones who voted on and decided to make this investment work,” Vice President of Operations at Chobani, Tyson Popp, said. “We’re committed to Twin Falls and the community here.”

Following this donation, Chobani plans to continue its community investment efforts on an annual basis, added Popp.

“We’re looking forward to what this process looks like next year, as we consider how to engage with our employees and contribute to something that’s especially unique to the community,” he said. “Hard-dollar investment is really important, and to be able to spread that money into the right places — maybe not just into one project, but perhaps into multiple projects — to be able to support additional groups or different organizations.

Located at the rim of Snake River Canyon on Pole Line Road, redevelopment of the 3-acre property will include a parking lot, public restrooms, outdoor fitness area, open space for programming needs and public art.

Because sustainability is important to Chobani, the development will also include a sustainable xeriscape with native plants. According to Wendy Davis, parks and recreation director at the City of Twin Falls, the landscape design will provide an opportunity to showcase sustainable spaces in the community.

“Part of why you call the area the Magic Valley is because of our ability to get water to this rich volcanic soil,” Davis said. “We are in the high desert and spaces like this give us an opportunity to kind of show what it looks like not to use a lot of water in your landscaping and create spaces that don’t require water.”

Davis also said the project has taken two years to get rolling due to property boundary issues and finding the right workers for design engineering work.

“As we were trying to put our designs together, we needed to change an access road. It’s an older plot area that has some vacated easements, and we couldn’t figure out exactly where we could put our road until we could figure out exactly where our property boundaries were,” Davis said. “And then the next piece was our inability to get design and engineering work done — trying to find people that had time to do the work for us.”

Davis noted her appreciation for Chobani’s partnership and support in making the Pole Line Eastland Trailhead Park a reality.

“It is completely employee-driven, and they were sold on the concept and were excited about getting involved in the project,” she said. “That speaks a lot to them and their commitment to the community.”