Oh MY Oakridge is happy to announce our vendor for the Oakridge Way Park Playground. We received some exciting designs and chose Rockyview Play to partner with on our project. With their focus on using natural, locally sourced materials and their play-centered designs, they best represent our vision for this incredible space in Oakridge. We will consult with Rockyview Play over the next few months to come up with a finalized design; stay tuned to this space for that announcement.
In related news, we were approached by a resident regarding a potential funding opportunity for this park project. We have always intended for the Oakridge Way Park Project to be more than a playground upgrade. Due to the costs associated with large-scale upgrades, such as new play equipment, we expected that this project would need to be accomplished in phases, first the new playground and a second phase that focused on a shade structure with some picnic tables and additional upgrades to make the park more accessible and welcoming for all demographics. If, however, we are successful with this new funding opportunity, we will be able to incorporate more of those changes as part of Phase 1. With that potential we are working on getting a conceptual design created for the whole space to illustrate an idea of how the whole park can be transformed into a community hub. Once we have that design, we will share it with you in a future edition of the Echo.
We greatly appreciate residents reaching out to us with grants and funding opportunities for our projects. While we try our best to find these opportunities, our volunteers only have so many hours during the day. If you know that your employer offers community grants or supports community projects such as park upgrades, please reach out to us and let us know. We can look into whether the funding opportunity is a fit for this project or keep it in mind for future opportunities to make our community even better than it already is.
If you want to support Oh MY Oakridge and the Oakridge Way Park Project this month, drop by the OCA between 10:00 am to 1:00 pm on August 19 with your empties. All funds raised through this bottle drive will go towards the new playground. We still need to raise approximately $50,000 for the new playground and your support of this bottle drive will go a long way in helping us hit that goal.
In July, we had the pleasure of promoting our Fun Run at the Stampede Breakfast. What a great event that was. As always, we met so many interesting Oakridge residents and heard some great stories about our parks. Thanks to the Oakridge Oldtimers and the OCA for putting on such a great way for us to connect with our community.
Don’t forget to sign up for the Oakridge Run on September 9. Early-bird pricing is available for the 6 and 10K runs until August 15, so register early. We wouldn’t be able to put this run on without our amazing sponsors: Bobby Clark Realty, West Peaks Dental Suite, Pawticular Pet Supply, F45, and Jetana Concessions (located inside the OCA).
Thanks to a grant from Calgary Foundation, we are also able to offer a free 1K run to kids under 12. Look for our ad in this edition of the Echo for the links to sign up for these fun races.
If you are passionate about Oakridge and want to help us create a plan for the green spaces in our community, we would love for you to join us. Reach out to [email protected] to learn about opportunities available on our team.
Click here to the Oakridge Community News home page for the latest Oakridge community updates.
