Pinnacle Park an upgrade in fun
Children from Coaldale Christian School flooded Pinnacle Park Playground during its official grand opening Friday.
In the past three years, volunteers from Project Playground Coaldale East raised more than $400,000 of in-kind and financial support to improve and expand the playground, which is adjacent to Coaldale Christian School.
The updated playground was built around the already existing equipment, but now caters to children of all ages and abilities by providing greater accessibility for children with disabilities and limited mobility.
A static reducing slide, which is being dubbed the largest in Coaldale, was installed in consideration of children with cochlear implants and the “Cozy Cabin” was made to be wheelchair accessible.
“What makes this playground truly accessible is the rubber,” said Colleen Van Raalte, project president. “It just makes everything neat, tidy, more hygienic. We had sand here before.”
The impressive playground also features a merry-go-round and a towering Dynamo Meteor that children must climb to access the slide.
“Playgrounds have many different benefits, you’ve got the obvious physical benefit, but you also have the social benefit where community members come together; they meet and they greet, they find each other and develop new friendships and relationships within the community, so that’s really important,” said Van Raalte.
“We also have cognitive skills that get increased as well, because kids have to figure out how to do, how not to hurt themselves and how to get up into the certain elements — there’s a lot of thinking involved.”
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