After years of successful fundraising and community building, the East Side Community Association has voted to dissolve.

They were able to get a new spray pad built on the east side, and accomplished a lot in their time together. Jenny Gadd, a longtime member of the board said she didn’t want the dissolution to leave a bad taste in anyone’s mouth. Gadd’s involvment in the association has been happening since the early 2000s and her father has been involved since the 1980s.

“For us, it’s bittersweet to let it go,” said Gadd. “But it’s been a conflict for me, the last couple of years, on wanting somebody else to take the reins and not having anybody interested in stepping up.”

The decision wasn’t taken lightly and they were reluctant to pull the plug on the group.

“I think that unfortunately for now, that’s the way it’s going to go,” she said.

One of their biggest projects was a spray pad to replace an old paddling pool in the East End Park last summer, in which they received a $120,000 grant from the Co-Op for community spaces funding in Saskatchewan.

But there was a lot of community commitment from the group.

“We do support both of the local elementary school’s Grade 8 windups,” said Gadd. “They do some comunity cleanups and we give them a donation to their year end parties.”

Gadd said the association will honour their funding commitment to the annual Yara Community Gardens Pumpkin Festival in the fall, as well as a sign of welcome for the East End Park. That will put an end to this group’s financial commitments.

“Whether the city will look to new people to take it over, or if it will just flame out, I’m not sure what their stance would be,” Gadd said.