Children now have a new natural spaces playground to enjoy in North Battleford.
Construction has completed on the new playground, funded by the City of North Battleford and by Battlefords Early Childhood Intervention Program.
The park is designed to include as many natural elements as possible, including boulders, a large climbing tree, logs, plants and other natural materials. Three large boulders were donated for the project. A teepee is also included, and there is a swing set as well.
Battlefords Early Childhood Intervention Program approached the City with the idea for the natural spaces park back in June 2017. Council liked the idea in principle but no further action was taken at the time.
In November BECIP came to council again and announced they would provide a matching grant of $50,000 towards the project.
In making their pitch for the park at that November meeting, BECIP’s Colleen Sabraw noted a natural spaces park would support children’s development and cognitive skills, and allow them to develop their physical skills.
“It’s time for our children to again grow up getting a little bit dirtier, getting a lot happier and a lot healthier being outdoors in some of these natural play spaces,” said Sabraw at the time.
The City then confirmed their own commitment of $50,000 at budget deliberations in December, and that cleared the way for the project to go ahead. Numerous other individuals also made contributions towards pieces of the park.
At the opening ceremony Friday, Mayor Ryan Bater recalled BECIP’s presentations at council.
“I just remember one phrase: ‘our children need to learn how to get dirty again and reconnect with nature,’” said Bater.
“And that’s really what caught our attention. City council is proud to be a partner in this project.”
Sabraw said 2017 was the 35th anniversary of BECIP in the Battlefords, and that anniversary helped spur on the project as well.
“We wanted to see that there would be some kind of legacy left, for maybe my grandchildren and each one of the board’s grandchildren.”
There had been some talk about locating the playground at Central Park. In the end, Centennial Park was the City’s preferred location, because the City had already identified that site for upgrades to the existing playground.
That playground was transformed this summer into a natural spaces park. Construction took place behind the Civic Centre starting Aug. 24.
The grand opening took place at 4 p.m. Friday and attracted a large turnout of children and families. Earlier in the morning, a special pipe ceremony, which included Indigenous elders, took place to bless the site.
