volunteers and borough paid for new playground
Combined effort of
volunteers and borough paid for new playground
By libby kesil
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY JERRY WOLKOWITZ McCarter Park, Fair Haven, was opened Sunday with a ribbon-breaking ceremony. The new playground equipment seen here was purchased with the help of Parents for Parks.
FAIR HAVEN — Parents, children and borough officials braved the frigid elements on Sunday to open the new playground at McCarter Park.
The ribbon-cutting was actually a ribbon-breaking as all the children in attendance formed a group and ran through a paper streamer.
The construction of the playground was a joint effort of a group of volunteers and the borough.
Co-founders Garrett Bess and Eleanor Gibney organized Parents for Parks last spring when the borough suddenly removed old playground equipment in the park after it was deemed unsafe. The park, located across from the Viola L. Sickles School on Willow Street, needed new playground equipment.
Group members wanted the project to be completed by August before school started, but the park was heavily damaged by the Aug. 2 storm. Debris and fallen trees had to be cleaned up, putting the project behind schedule, according to the organization’s co-founder, Bess, who was elected to the Borough Council in November.
According to Bess, Parents for Parks has already raised about $53,000 through donations and fund-raising events like a Walk in the Park and a cocktail party held this summer at the Driftwood Beach Club, Sea Bright. The group also placed canisters called Pennies for Parks at local businesses which contributed to the fund raising.
Bess said that the major local and corporate contributors included the Curran family who donated trust money in memory of one of their children, Ray Catena Lexus, Coldwell Banker, Commerce Bank, Walsh Benefit, Masco Corp., Salomon Smith Barney, and Bike Haven.
The recreation commission also contributed $15,000 in matching funds and an additional $15,000 was received from a bond ordinance.
According to group member Bill Perkins, the playground equipment is geared to 2- to 5-year-olds and 5- to 12-year-olds. The new equipment meets all federal ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements and current guidelines.
The equipment for 2- to 5-year-olds includes a green dragon, a funnel bridge, a number of slides, and activity panels including a steering wheel and tic-tac-toe.
The equipment for 5- to 12-year-olds includes the mega rock climber, which features a rock wall and a dinosaur fossil, a sky bridge with a horizontal loop ladder on the underside, a treescape, and toad stools, which are used like stepping stones.
Bess said that the group plans to finish work in McCarter Park and then turn its focus to the other borough parks, such as Fair Haven Fields and the Youth Center North Playground.
"They are a great group of volunteers. They worked very hard," said Bess.