To Paraphrase Sinatra, for Fontana, 2008 has been a very good year.

April gave us a $65 million library, which instantly became one of the Inland Valley's finest public spaces, and July brought a $6.5 million renovation of a dormant theater.

And on Saturday, Fontana unveils a $62 million park.

Sounds like residents hit the civic-improvement trifecta.

(If you're worried Fontana is going to need a federal bailout, developers and redevelopment funds paid most of the tab.)

East of the 15 Freeway and north of the 210, the new park is in a somewhat barren part of town. But at 39 acres, the park is one of the largest in the Inland Valley.

"Originally we were going to build it in four phases," City Manager Ken Hunt told me. "But the council got excited about it and said, `Build it all at once."'

Anything to claim bragging rights over rival Rancho Cucamonga, I suppose, where only 30 acres of the 104-acre Central Park are in use.

Well, more power to 'em. Fontana has struggled with a backward image and you can't help but be touched that they're trying so hard.

Except with the name: Fontana Park. I can't decide if it's easy to remember or forgettable.

I got a tour on Wednesday. The park is as sprawling as Fontana itself.

Largely passive, there are no soccer or baseball fields. But there will be plenty to do.

You can shoot hoops, run a treadmill or dance in the Jessie Turner Center.

Fido can romp in the city's first dog park. Kids can climb on sculpted forms in the playground.

A skate park accommodates cyclists, too, with bowls, stairs and rails, all steel-reinforced.

"Any piece of concrete in this skate park you can grind on," said Chuck Hayes, the public works director, who probably never dreamed he would one day talk in skater lingo.

Then there's the aquatics center. It has an outdoor, 14-lane swimming pool, a smaller pool for lessons, a water play area and a slide. Admission for the pool and slide both is $7, with cheaper fees from there.

Ontario's Cucamonga-Guasti Regional Park and Rancho's Central Park are planning aquatics centers, but Fontana beat them to the punch.

Although with the water at 62 degrees Wednesday, swimming in late October is only for the hardy. Is there a Fontana chapter of the Polar Bear Club?

Actually, the park's opening was targeted for August but delayed. You'll note it wasn't delayed past the Nov. 4 City Council election. Some things are sacred.

One final park feature: the wind.

A series of motion sculptures take advantage of the, shall we say, light breezes that waft gently through the nearby Cajon Pass. Except last week's 70 mph winds sheared one sculpture right off its pole.

It was so windy during my visit, the swimming pools churned like the Pacific.

Hunt maintains this is unusual. For now, think twice before playing badminton.

As for the remote location, Hunt said there are hopes to build a park of equal size in the center of town.

"We've spent $125 million on park improvements in the last five years," Hunt said. "We'll spend another $100 million in the next five years."

For 2009, the pace of epic change will slow. But that's all right.

At this point, if Fontana were to announce it was sending a man to Mars, I wouldn't bat an eye.