The idea for a community park on Big Pine Key was first broached more than 10 years ago.

Those plans finally have come to fruition and the Big Pine Key Park officially is open to the public.

The $5 million Monroe County park contains a playground, baseball field, central building containing a concession stand and storage space, basketball and roller hockey courts and a skate park. There is an all-purpose field for other sports programs and jogging trails circle the park.

"The community stayed involved throughout the whole project," said David Koppel, Monroe County's Engineering Division director.

Drawing a lot of looks was the skate park, which now is the fifth such park built in the Florida Keys. The community parks in Key West, Marathon, Islamorada and Key Largo have similar facilities.

"There was a time when Monroe County had no skate parks," Koppel said.

More than a hundred people attended the park's opening ceremony on Friday, and as elected officials spoke, a group of kids already had descended upon the playground.

"You deserve the credit for this," Monroe County Commissioner George Neugent said. "It is your taxpayer dollars."

Big-ticket projects are hard to come by for Monroe County due to the recent budget crunch. The land for the park was purchased by the state, and funding for the construction came from the county's capital infrastructure budget.

"This is probably going to be the last park we build for a long time," County Commissioner Dixie Spehar said.

Big Pine Key Park, at the end of Sands Road, is open from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily. Both the ball fields and skate park are outfitted with lights.