JUST IN TIME FOR SUMMER
Children climb over the play structures following the official opening of the new accessible “Playground of Caring” Tuesday at Park Meadows Elementary School.
Park Meadows Elementary School held a special “ribbon ripping” ceremony Tuesday to formally open its new, accessible playground.
The new playground, dubbed “The Playground of Caring,” took two and a half years to come together and cost $400,000 to build. Money for the project came from grants funded through the City’s Community Facility Enhancement Program and Community Capital Project Grant.
Students, parents and local businesses also chipped in for a portion of the project’s funding. Designed and constructed by Blue Imp, the playground uses 3,000 recycled tires to create a safe and accessible play area for children of any need and has wheelchair-accessible ramps off most of the apparatuses.
Students waited patiently for the VIP speeches to conclude before eagerly jumping in to grab a section of the ribbons strewn around the edges of the playground. They proceeded to tear the ribbons into sections when instructed to do so by the teachers to open the park for general use before jumping on the apparatuses to break them in.
Park Meadows principal Mark Blankenstyn was grateful for the public support his school received to bring the playground together.
“This is an absolute dream for all of our kids, from all walks of life,” he said. “I want to say a huge thank you to Evelyn Yackaulic and the whole Green Acres Kiwanis Club of Lethbridge, who applied for all the grants on our behalf and were successful.”
Park Meadows student Ryan Skidmor won a school contest to name the new playground. He is the one who chose “The Playground of Caring.”
“I really just thought some kids couldn’t really play on the old playground because it was hard for wheelchairs to get past the rocks and other things,” Skidmor said. “Now we have the accessibility ramps so kids can go all throughout the playground. It just gives everybody a chance to play now.”
Follow @TimKalHerald on Twitter