Coming September 2020!
We are so excited to finally make this announcement! After two years of fundraising and planning, including carefully analyzing many designs, options, and budgets, the Mid-Sun Playground Committee and the Mid-Sun Community Association have ordered the equipment and will have our new “Sundance Explorer Park” installed on Sunlake Road.
Installation will take place from September 21 to 28, with the old playground being removed at the beginning of September. From carefully selecting the panels and swing types, to choosing colours and reviewing climbing options that would challenge teenagers but be entertaining for little ones, we have put a lot of love and effort into this playground. We know you’ll love it!
I’m so proud of, and thankful for, all our incredible committee members. Suzanne Traves, Karly Cussigh, Julie Gregson, Lisa Yaunish, Cassandra Anvik, Pat Jeffery, Thomas Bouchard, Isabelle Bouchard, and Xavier Bouchard have been amazing team members. It’s been exhausting and tiring, but it was seriously their continuous enthusiasm and support that kept this project (and me!) going. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Big thanks to BDI Play Designs Inc. for patiently redesigning this park again and again and again (and again…). They are a Canadian company with the equipment for this park being manufactured in Medicine Hat, Alberta, and Ontario.
Sadly, one of the major elements we were planning for, the accessible fall surface of engineered wood fibre, was ultimately not approved by City infrastructure as they are still piloting the surface. The playground will have pea gravel, but I’m thankful for the City who worked quickly with crazy deadlines brought on by COVID-19 complications and allowed us to move forward with building this summer! Also because of COVID, we won’t be having a volunteer build, but we hope to celebrate still with a grand opening.
Thank you also to Dimension Dentistry, Pictures on Pages, Steve Dugas Realty, The Kinsmen Club of Calgary, Parks Foundation Calgary, the Mid-Sun Community Association, and many community members for your generous contributions!
Key features of the new “Sundance Explorer Park” include:
- Circular play for endless games of grounders
- Toddler play areas include the triple slide and a shaded ground-level café
- Tributes to the original playground including a vehicle (but the new one bounces!), three swings, and a rocking animal
- Inclusive features for those with varying levels of abilities such as two different spinners and rockers for sensory seekers, perching options, color variety, and cozy areas for kids who like to have their own space
- A unique-to-Calgary net climber made with top-quality material
- Play features that can be utilized by families with children of multiple ages simultaneously such as the satellite spinner, disc swing, Konnection swing, and teeter totter
Thank you once again to the residents of Midnapore and Sundance for your ongoing support through this entire process. We look forward to seeing you at this incredible new playground in the fall!
Yours truly,
Erin Delamont
Mid-Sun Playground Committee Chair
