RECREATION FOR ALL
It will be a park for everyone — Catoosa County residents, Walker County residents and others — to enjoy together.” Park, playground for all abilities to be built in Ringgold
On any warm sunny day, if you pass a playground, you’ll see children running and laughing. Parents will be pushing them on swings, helping them up steps to the slide, then rushing to meet them at the end and even climbing or spinning on equipment with them.
But most playgrounds do not have much for families that include a child or a parent with a disability. Paths are not wide or sturdy enough, the rides don’t suit the needs of people with physical challenges and equipment is often too risky. Parents with disabilities must watch from afar and all too often, so must children.
It doesn’t have to be this way, Ringgold resident Millie Cheek believes. She and others envision a playground that will welcome and cater to whole families, regardless of abilities. They envision Crossroads Unity Family Park.
The dream started in 2014 and has been growing since. Cheek, who is the chairwoman of the committee planning the park, is no stranger to the task. She was chair of the board that helped develop the Little General Children’s Park in Ringgold.
The vision, says Cheek, was strongly driven by the desire for disabled parents, especially veterans, to be able to spend interactive time with their children at a playground. Thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act, most newer playgrounds have some accessibility for children with disabilities, but not so much for adults and not enough for children with challenges.
The growing project, says Cheek, could not be coming to life without
the unswerving support of the Ringgold City Council and City Manager Mark Vaughn, as well as many other people. The city will be donating the land for the park. Once the park is equipped and open the city will assume responsibility for maintaining it.
NAME PACKED WITH MEANING
The name of the park, Crossroads Unity Family Park, is loaded with meaning: Crossroads for what the
area was called before it was named after Samuel Ringgold in 1847; Unity to recognize the motto of the park — all abilities, all ages; Family for the emphasis on families being able to enjoy the park together.
The cost of the undertaking is not small. The development committee is working with the Ithaca, N.y.-based company Play by Design. The price
tag is $750,000 for services and equipment. That price does not include preparing the land.
The committee will be able to apply for grants once the location of the park is finalized, but other fundraising will be necessary and has already garnered $53,000 through twice-annual events.
Events thus far have included a bachelor auction, an adult prom, a motorcycle ride called “Ride to Play, Play to Ride,” “Hunks in Heels, A Womanless Beauty Pageant,” a number of concerts and a New Year’s Eve Gala.
The next event will be a June 24 outdoor concert at the Northwest Georgia Amphitheater by the Colonnade in Ringgold. The concert will feature four groups: Low Down
Revival singing traditional bluegrass; Neon Moon, an 80s-90s country cover band that Cheek says is really fun to sing along with; Iron Horse singing a mix of rock and roll and bluegrass; and a surprise performer to be announced later.
It’s going to take a big pulling together of the community to finish the dream of Crossroads Unity Family Park, says Cheek. She emphasizes that it is not only for the physically challenged and not only for those who live in Ringgold. “It will be a park for everyone — Catoosa County residents, Walker County residents and others — to enjoy together,” she says.
Cheek also wants the park to stand as an example of what is possible when a community pulls together. “I want other people to do this, too.”
PARK DEDICATION
Crossroads Unity Family Park will be dedicated to the memory of
U.S. Marine Corporal Troy Dyer, Sr., representing and honoring all disabled veterans.
Dyer, brother- in- law to committee member Vanita Hullander, passed away in 2002. He served two tours in Vietnam and lost both legs in battle.
“Troy represented a positive, determined attitude that we want to encourage in the people who visit the park and in everyone,” says Cheek. “In spite of his limitations, he was a devoted father, worked as a brick and stone mason, visited children at Children’s Hospital in Chattanooga, taught children how to pop wheelies in their wheelchairs and shared his views of willpower with young and old alike.”