A small but vibrant crowd gathered at Sahtlam Park bright and early Wednesday morning in the hopes of bringing attention to their quest to revitalize the property.
With the help of the The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 210, the community is rallying in support of the park that has been named one of the 10 finalists in the BCAA Play Here contest, a competition with three grand prizes of up to $100,000 to make over a play space.
And boy, does the park need it.
With poor drainage, anytime it rains, the park is useless. The playground was removed due to age and there’s no other one nearby. A ratty old lacrosse box has been decommissioned and kids have nowhere to play their street hockey games as the place they had done that is being taken over for pickleball.
The entire space just needs a major overhaul to make it inclusive and welcoming.
“It’s important that our community has a place where we can come together and different age groups can kind of mingle and our current park equipment is kind of lacking,” said organizer Katie Burridge.
“It would be really nice to have a really nice community space where people of different ages can come out and people can have that community hub.”
The new design boasts a street hockey area, an exercise circuit, natural play areas, a tot track where young children can ride their bikes, a willow tunnel and hut, butterfly garden, and a rocky sand pit area with a rock-lined “creek” bed and small bridge for kids to explore.
“The quality of Sahtlam Park’s nomination showed a clear need for a better play space,” said BCAA contest spokesman Shawn Pettipas. “The well-thought-out nomination detailed the positive impact a revitalized space would have on the kids and the rest of the community.”
With 10 finalists and three prizes, mathmatically there’s a 33 per cent chance of winning, but at the end of the day it comes down to votes.
Folks can vote up to four times each day at www.BCAAplayhere.com.
Voting closes on June 18 with the three winners being announced June 23.
