Ahoy Matey!
The new accessible playground at Callander’s Centennial Park was officially christened by local politicians as part of the communities FunFest celebrations Saturday.
The playground, designed as a pirate ship, was born out of necessity and the need to be fiscally responsible.
“I think it is every two years, but somebody has to come in and do a safety check on it. And that safety check showed that there was a couple of main structural beams that were not up to standard anymore, and were going to have to be replaced, plus there was an underground structure that we had to expose to see if it was structurally sound,” explained Callander Mayor Robb Noon.
“And by the end of it all it was going to cost so much to fix it and we’ve had money slowly set aside for that kind of a project. So because of the structural work and there was funding available for it, we decided it was a great opportunity to take advantage of that.”
Noon says Federal money was secured for the larger Centennial Park and Landsdowne project.
“We’ve done the downtown waterfront revitalization project, and we did a lot of consultation at that time about making sure things were accessible and the theme for the park. So when we had to redo the boat, we stuck with that theme,” said Noon.
“They wanted a boat theme, so that is what public works and staff really went after so it kind of comes from the past consultation with our community.”
Council has more plans in the works for that area.
“We’re really sticking to that community planning that we’ve done. We’re not trying to waver away from that. So we really keep reaching out to them to find out what they want and we did add more money for the accessibility component of it. Council put in an extra $20- thousand or so to more to make it even more accessible. Even when we put in the splash pad, we tried to make it accessible so everybody in the community can take advantage of it.”
Noon says there is still more work to be done to finish off the design.
“In the coming weeks, we’re going to be making all the ramps and pathways to all the new equipment.”
Earlier funding for the project came in part from the provincial government.
Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli said the municipality made an “excellent application” to successfully get the required funding.
“I drove by there last week to have a look at it. It is really beautiful. It is kind of cute. It looks like a ship again, it looks like a smaller ship this time. But it has big yellow flags this time. How could you go wrong with that? Two big yellow flags. It was a happy coincidence,” laughed Fedeli who is known for his signature yellow ties.
The new playground at the waterfront is located near the splash pad.
“That water park that they have is one of the best we’ve seen. Every surrounding community wants a water park like Callander has. It is the gold standard,” said Fedeli.
Noon says the look of the park began with the splash pad.
“All of our planning has always been community-based. So we try to maximize taxpayer dollars first and build it for the community. And if you build it, then you will get that tourist aspect. People will come for a destination. So there is the economic development spinoff of it for our downtown core. When we first did the splash pad, when we did our downtown revitalization project, the splash pad was the first component of that.”
Noon says there are plans for further expansion.
“We keep doing small increments as we can afford it through the tax base, but when these funding opportunities come along, it really gives us that jump-start or that leap forward. This last year with the funding, we’ve gotten to expand on that and go further into our planning”
Noon says there is a pavilion and boardwalk on its way.
“We got funding for Landsdowne so we’re going to do Landsdowne in the new way we wanted to do it, the sidewalk, the beautification aspect, the lighting, all of that right down to our pier which was another part of funding many years ago. So we’re consistent at keeping our plan and moving forward with our plan. It is all just coming together, so I’m so excited to be here when you can see that plan come to fruition.”
