MIRACLE PARK PARTY
Donors set stage for $3M accessible baseball complex in Riverside
Young players from Riverside Minor Baseball celebrate Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the Farrow Riverside Miracle Park. The $30-million makeover of the former Riverside Arena site will include an accessible baseball diamond and playground, a swimming pool and multiple exercise facilities.
A groundbreaking was held Wednesday for a local “field of dreams” — the Miracle Park baseball diamond, accessible playground and full makeover of the former Riverside Arena site. “This is a fantastic day for the community,” said Bill Kell, cochairman of the project’s steering committee. “This will be a destination playground and park that will be accessible and inclusive for everyone. It will enhance our community — not only Riverside and Windsor, but all of Essex County. “Today means everything to me. We have been calling it a field of dreams and this is truly a dream coming true.” Construction will swing into full gear in the coming weeks and be largely complete before the end of the year, he said.
Once all amenities are in place, the park in the heart of Riverside will include a miracle field ball diamond for those with special needs to play baseball, accessible washrooms, an accessible swimming pool, accessible playground, a wellness exercise path around the park’s perimeter with three exercise stations, a pavilion, plus relocation and more prominent display of the park’s cenotaph. “We want this to be a full recreational complex for everyone,” Kell said. Fundraising continues for the project with $2.2 million secured to date with a new overall goal of reaching $3 million — up from the original $2.5 million — to ensure the park has everything envisioned by its steering committee. The two most noteworthy donations have come from the Solcz Family Foundation, which donated $250,000, and the Farrow Family, which contributed $500,000. As a result of their generosity, the miracle baseball field will carry the Solcz name, while the entire park will be named the Farrow Riverside Miracle Park.
City council last year agreed to lease out the park, which most recently served as home to Riverside Arena, to the group to create the miracle field. The city will contribute somewhere in the range of $500,000 to help with accessible washrooms and the creation of accessible playground, as well as for parking lot improvements. That sum includes a contribution by Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac who has pitched in the full amount of her ward funds — $100,000 — toward the project.
“Today is a celebration of what a community can do when everyone comes together,” Gignac said. “This started out as an idea and in partnership with municipal government has become a perfect example of what can be achieved. “The miracle diamond, and after this park is fully completed in the next year, will be the most comprehensive amenity for people with physical handicaps, not just here, but I believe anywhere across Ontario.”
The remade park in Riverside will be an “an amazing asset for the community and city,” said Jan Wilson, the city ’s executive-director of recreation and culture. “This is something new and unique that will be welcomed as a great feature,” she said. “Having all the accessible features located here will make this truly a park for everyone.”