Local not-for-profit goes ahead with new playground

Remember when you were a kid and a trip to the local playground was highlighted by a dizzying trip on the tire swing - not to mention slivers from the wood structure?

Playgrounds have evolved since then and the Slide with Pride Playground Society, a local not-for-profit group, will be updating and revitalizing the current play structure at Centennial Park, which is more than 25 years old and does not meet current safety standards.

Local resident and father of two young boys, Tony Carlton, started Slide with Pride as a result of a 2007 vacation to Phoenix, Arizona, where he visited a local park and was amazed by the sophistication of the playground structures. “It’s really just taken off from an idea we had in Phoenix... and it really started to foster in April last year.”

The Alberta government has pledged up to $87,949 matching dollars, said Carlton, who has spearheaded fundraising efforts and to date has raised approximately $45,000.

“To me, at the end of the day,” said Carlton, “I don’t want the kids to know how long it took to get this thing. I just want them to know, ‘hey, we got your new playground’ and it didn’t cost anything to the taxpayer and that’s really what’s important to us adults.”

Although the park at the elementary school around the corner is great, said Carlton, “I meet people all summer-long on Saturdays and Sundays in the school park, but when you’re a kid, where’s the last place you want to go on the weekend? School,” he joked. The new structure at Centennial Park will let Dads and Moms play softball, for instance, while the kids play just above them and not across the street where they have to worry about their safety, he said.

Slide with Pride has received donations from local hotels, businesses and some individuals, said Carlton, as well as some involvement from Hinton in the neighbourhood of $10,000. Carlton was quick to emphasize how beneficial it is to have matching dollars from the provincial government. For example, Jasper Concrete will be doing some land sculpting with the cost of donated labour being matched, he said.

“The place is going to be outrageous, it’s going to be awesome,” said Carlton of the new playground structure. The structure will accommodate about 150 kids, contain two eight foot slides, a climbing feature, ramps, chains, swings for toddlers, spider monkey bars, in addition to some other elements, said Carlton. “There’s a ton of climbing now. It’s way better than what we had when we were kids,” he joked.

The new playground will be geared towards children aged zero to 12, said Carlton, and also accommodate children with disabilities.

Carlton has put in a lot of time, as have his staff at Houston Insurance and Yvonne McNabb, director of culture and recreation for the municipality. Although requiring a lot of dedication, effort and patience to overcome bureaucratic obstacles, Carlton lives by the credo that “it’s not how you do anything, it’s how you do everything,” he said.

“I just want the kids to benefit,” said Carlton, and to do that the most effective way possible is to dive right in and not just tinker around the edges. “None of my ideas are really that fresh, they’re just taken from the better parks we’ve been to in the past two years,” he said modestly. Carlton’s boys, Tanner and Tyler, although a little shy when speaking with the Fitzhugh, had wide smiles when talking about how excited they are to have a new playground.

Although Carlton was hoping to have the new structure in for July 1, it now looks like mid-July is when construction will take place, he said.

Carlton presented his plans for the new playground structure to council on Tues, June 2. Councillors unanimously approved his initiative as part of the general Centennial Park redevelopment plans.

To make a donation, which will be matched by the Alberta government, or to be one of the 15 to 25 volunteers needed during the construction phase, call Tony Carlton at 780-852-0139.