{"id":31082,"date":"2026-05-03T16:59:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T21:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/?page_id=31082"},"modified":"2026-05-03T16:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T21:59:22","slug":"granite-city-park-district-receives-largest-pep-grant-in-madison-county","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/granite-city-park-district-receives-largest-pep-grant-in-madison-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Granite City Park District Receives Largest PEP Grant in Madison County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"fonts-plugin-block \" style=\"font-family: Lato;font-weight: normal;font-size: 20px;text-align: center\"><strong>Granite City Park District Receives Largest PEP Grant in Madison County<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"fonts-plugin-block \" style=\"font-family: Lato;font-weight: normal;font-size: 15px\"><em>GraniteCityGossip.com, May 3, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-id=\"31083\" src=\"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/660525509_1374738044690374_8150944084281198476_n-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31083\" srcset=\"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/660525509_1374738044690374_8150944084281198476_n-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/660525509_1374738044690374_8150944084281198476_n-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/660525509_1374738044690374_8150944084281198476_n-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/660525509_1374738044690374_8150944084281198476_n-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/660525509_1374738044690374_8150944084281198476_n-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/660525509_1374738044690374_8150944084281198476_n.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"736\" height=\"552\" data-id=\"31084\" src=\"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ffc1583139dcd00bb087e744942ce81e-kousa-dogwood-tree-granite.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31084\" srcset=\"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ffc1583139dcd00bb087e744942ce81e-kousa-dogwood-tree-granite.jpg 736w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ffc1583139dcd00bb087e744942ce81e-kousa-dogwood-tree-granite-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 85vw, 736px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"fonts-plugin-block \" style=\"font-family: Lato;font-weight: normal\">Madison County has announced more than <strong>$3.3 million<\/strong> in Parks Enhancement Program (PEP) Grants for 2026, continuing its investment in parks, trails, playgrounds, and public recreation spaces across the county. The PEP program, funded through countywide sales tax revenue, provides annual support to municipalities, townships, and park districts for capital improvements that strengthen community quality of life.<br><br>This year\u2019s allocations span cities, villages, townships, and park districts, but one local district stood out above all others.<br><br><strong>Granite City Park District Tops All Recipients<\/strong><br>The Granite City Park District received the largest PEP Grant award in Madison County, surpassing every municipality, township, and park district included in this year\u2019s funding cycle.<br><br><strong>Granite City Park District \u2013 $310,638 <\/strong><br>This leading allocation reflects both the size of the district and the county\u2019s recognition of its ongoing infrastructure and recreational needs.<br><br><strong>Other Local Recipients<\/strong><br>Neighboring communities also received funding through the 2026 PEP program:<br><strong>Pontoon Beach \u2013 $65,917<\/strong><br><strong>Nameoki Township \u2013 $49,700<\/strong><br><strong>Chouteau Township \u2013 $84,303<\/strong><br><strong>City of Madison \u2013 $49,700<\/strong><br><br>These grants support improvements such as park maintenance, playground upgrades, trail development, and other recreational enhancements that benefit residents throughout northern Madison County.<br><br><strong>A Countywide Commitment to Parks and Recreation<\/strong><br>With more than <strong>$3.3 million<\/strong> distributed this year, the PEP program remains one of Madison County\u2019s most impactful tools for strengthening public spaces. Communities large and small rely on these funds to maintain safe, accessible, and modern recreational facilities for families.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Wilson-Park-May-19-2021-1536x1152-1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31085\" srcset=\"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Wilson-Park-May-19-2021-1536x1152-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Wilson-Park-May-19-2021-1536x1152-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Wilson-Park-May-19-2021-1536x1152-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Wilson-Park-May-19-2021-1536x1152-1-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Wilson-Park-May-19-2021-1536x1152-1.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-31082","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31086,"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31082\/revisions\/31086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/granitecitygossip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}