CLARK FORK — For Lewis Speelmon, ideas of what the property behind the Clark Fork football field could become started to circulate roughly 40 years ago.

In 1982, Speelmon, the athletic director at the time, and his family helped finish installing the new football field at CFHS. It was around then that principal Byron Lewis began thinking about what the school could do with the “mess” just beyond the field, Speelmon said.

Thorn-apple trees covered the area and Lewis just wanted to find a way to make use of the property that is owned by the school district.

“It was pretty wild and woolly out here for a while,” Speelmon said on Tuesday at Wampus Park while reflecting on its history.

Talks about building an elementary school on the property surfaced at one point and they dabbled with a handful of things, including a nature trail, the 1966 CFHS grad said.

But it wasn’t until about 2008 that a true vision started to take shape with the help of current principal Phil Kemink and Frank Hammersley, a former CFHS football coach.

“[Frank] and I came out here when this thing was so thick you could hardly walk through it and kind of surveyed the property,” Kemink said.

They drew out sketches of a nine-hole golf course and then just like any project in Clark Fork, the whole community got involved. Alums, students and residents have poured countless hours into the effort to make Wampus Park what it is today — an 18-hole disc golf course and a nine-hole golf course.

On Fourth of July weekend, the facility, located at 602 Stephen St. in Clark Fork, will host its annual Wampus Cat Disc and Golf Tournament. Speelmon and his wife, Pat, have helped put together the event the last handful of years and he said participation in the tourney continues to grow.

A four-person scramble will be held on Saturday, July 3 at 9 a.m. with registration starting at 8 a.m. The disc golf portion of the tournament is set for Monday, July 5 with registration starting at 5 p.m.

Both events are open to all ages and there is a suggested donation of $20 per participant with proceeds going toward maintaining and upgrading the course. Speelmon said no alcohol or tobacco is allowed on the course.

Disc golf wasn’t a part of the original vision for the facility, but Kemink and KC MacDonald, a longtime teacher at CFHS, brought the sport into the picture in 2016 when the equipment for it was purchased.

Now avid disc golfers will travel from all over to get a taste of the unique course.

Over time, plans for the facility have changed, but Kemink said the course still looks similar to the drawings he and Hammersley roughed out years ago.

“Some people said, ‘Oh, there’s no way you’ll ever pull it off,’” Kemink said, “and I’m really happy that it’s turned into what it’s turned into. If it was just a driving range, you wouldn’t see people using it like you do know.”

When golfers arrive for the tournament, they will notice the addition of newly installed signs at the entrance and throughout the course.

Each year it seems like something new is added to Wampus Park. Little by little those who have overseen the project and the community have chipped away to create the current product, and they aren’t done.

Kemink and Speelmon both expressed ideas for the future, including adding a donation box, hosting other events like archery and building real greens that will allow people to putt.

“Right now, we don’t have the grass to really support putting,” Speelmon said, “... but we can change that.”

Maintaining the facility isn’t easy, but fortunately the community has Speelmon’s brother, Douglas, who helped shape the course. He spends about seven hours mowing the grass, but it’s become a labor of love.

“He’s kind of grabbed ahold of that and I think it’s going to be difficult to wrestle it away from him,” Speelmon said.

Kemink said they are always looking for volunteers to help clean up the course and he hopes to organize a community pick-up effort this fall.

Given the fact that the facility is open to the public and free to use, Kemink feels fortunate that people have respected the course enough over the years to not cause any severe damage.

“The most vandalism we’ve had is from Mother Nature,” he joked.

Speelmon said the community takes a lot of pride in the course, and he knows it will continue to gain in popularity.

“I think more people are discovering it,” he said, “and in this day when everything costs so much, all the sudden here, you can come out, enjoy some recreation and you don’t have to reach in your pocket.”

Kemink, who is entering his 18th year as principal, said it took lots of time, equipment and money from donors and volunteers to bring Wampus Park to life, and he appreciates everyone who has pitched in.

It’s not your typical golf course, but that’s what makes it special, Kemink said.

“Facility-wise this place is so nice compared to most out there, but it’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” he said. “It’s all thanks to the community that this place is even here.”