Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Celebrates Community Spirit
by Deb Alter
The new Castle Playground came into being in just three days. That is, it was assembled by community volunteers on May 19, 20 and 21, but it’s been more than a year in the making. The old Castle Playground was a Town landmark ever since it was first built, but in recent years it had become a bit shabby looking, and less safe than it should be.[private]
The Hoosick Kiwanis Club decided to step up to the plate and revamp the playground, bring it up to date, to code, and make it appropriate for very young kids to pre-teens and accessible for children with special needs. Wendy Larson headed up the project, with a lot of help from Gale Leva and other Kiwanians.
From fundraising to coordinating with the Town to working with professional playground designers to dismantling the old structure and equipment to installing the new swings, slides, climbing ropes and climbing walls, the new castle, and benches, the Kiwanis was determined to make a safe, fun, exciting playground for Hoosick’s children. And succeed they did.
So dedicated were they that they all came out for the grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony in the pouring rain on Tuesday, May 24.
Before cutting the ribbon and declaring the new playground officially open, Larson spoke to the crowd. “Without the help of the community volunteers, including those who donated the food to feed our workers, this would have been a much longer process. We are so thankful to so many of you who have been with us every step of the way so that our playground would be safe and fun for our children.”
She also remarked on how many of the volunteers had been there to build the original Castle playground.[/private]