Group working to rebuild playground at Garnett Elementary School hosting community celebration
The community is invited to attend a celebration to kick off of the planning of the re-building of the playground at Garnett Elementary School in Chestertown January 19th, 2012 starting at 6:30 p.m. The first community-built playground was installed over 20 years ago and brought the greater Chestertown community together to provide a special place for children who now have children of their own.
After years of constant use and the need to conform to new safety codes the first playground was removed. A group of parents and community members have been working with school and town officials to determine steps to re-build a one of a kind structure for the use of Garnett Elementary School students and community children.
On the morning of January 19th a certified playground designer from Leathers and Associates will be visiting Garnett Elementary school to listen to the students’ ideas for a new playground design. In addition, volunteers will be collecting illustrations from children from other schools with ideas for the designer to use. The designer will compile all the information gathered and spend the afternoon crafting a draft schematic playground plan. At 6:30 a celebration will be held to reveal this draft plan and to kick off the next phase of this playground planning process. The targeted building date is mid to late October 2012.
Leathers and Associates, based in Ithaca, NY, helps communities build unique community playgrounds and were the designers of the first Garnett playground. They meet all playground safety standards and work with a core group of volunteers to plan out the project, raise funds, and oversee the building using volunteer labor. More information is found at their website www.leathersassociates.com.
Volunteers and donations – both in-kind and monetary - are needed in to make this playground re-build project a success. To help please e-mail chestertownplayground@gmail.
o