![]() What makes this park interesting, besides being made completely of wood - right down to the wood chips it rests on - is its learning theme. "A lot of times, the person who came up with the idea takes all the credit, but this was really a community effort," Christian said. As a result, the park took only nine days to complete. Close to 5,800 members of the community - over a third of Pleasant Grove's total population - turned out to help. About $35,000 was put into a fund specifically to aid in future repairs and improvements. Land was donated to build it and $250,000 was raised, which was more than what was needed to build the park. Christian volunteered his idea for the community-built park at a city council meeting he attended - and the council accepted it almost immediately. The city's search for a centennial project led to the green light for the park. My son asked if we could have a park like that in our neighborhood."Ĭhristian's son didn't have to wait long for an answer. When I started to ask questions about how it was built, I found out the community had got together and funded (as well as) built it. "It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. "I went out to this beautiful wooden park and it was gorgeous," Christian said. That reaction to the unusual park struck a chord with Christian, who, as a result, set out to build a similar one in his own community. When Mike Christian and his family visited Florida on vacation, his kids said the park was better than Disney World. Considering there's no park like it within 50 miles or more, that's easily understandable.New Smyrna Beach, Fla., has a park that served as a model for the one in Pleasant Grove. The Novell Children's Discovery Park, an all-wooden one-acre park built inside the larger Manila Park, is visited by more than 300 people a day, according to Deon Giles, who maintains it. And it doesn't hurt if it's surrounded by four baseball diamonds, some tennis courts and a covered pavilion. PLEASANT GROVE - If you build it, they will come.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |