New Veteran’s Park playground is a replica of La Amistad ship
NORWALK — After nearly 20 years, the playground at Veteran’s Park has been replaced.
This month, the city posted on its Instagram account that the new playground was completed with funding from a Parks Beautification grant secured by state Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk.
“It’s really great when we can update the playgrounds across the city of Norwalk because it means that kids all over can enjoy the benefits of our parks and that there’s a safe place to play that creates imagination and lets them have fun at the same time,” Duff said.
The $4.5 million grant, in addition to paying for the new playground, allocates funding for “new synthetic baseball fields at Broad River Park, new fencing, lighting, benches and landscaping at Irving Freese Park, a new trash receptacle system at six town parks, and more improvements at the Ludlow Park, Veterans Memorial Park, and the Brookside Elementary School fields,” according to a July 2022 statement announcing the funding.
“This funding reflects Governor Lamont and Senator Duff’s continued commitment to securing critical funding for the City of Norwalk’s Park System and prioritizes some of Norwalk’s treasures, such as our parks and green spaces,” Mayor Harry Rilling said in that statement.
The new playground at Veteran’s Park is a replica of La Amistad, a schooner that transported enslaved peoples who led the historical Amistad Uprising.
Duff said this is important for children to combine education and recreation.
“We live in a very diverse community and we want to make sure that history is told, and that history is told not only in an accurate way, but in a way for kids to be able to learn while having fun,” the state senate majority leader said. “And this is a great out-of-school experience where they can learn a little bit and have fun.”
The city’s Instagram post said that the new playground was inspired by the September visit of Discovery Amistad, a 129foot replica of the historical ship that “serves as a floating classroom to educate the public about the history of slavery, discrimination, and the Amistad Uprising, which took place in 1839.”