AKRON — Before the sun sets on August 28, hundreds of children who come to Patterson Park in Akron will receive a great new place to play.
The new playground will be fully assembled from scratch in less than eight hours with the help of more than 200 volunteers from the North Akron Baseball Association and the City of
“KaBOOM! playground builds inspire residents to put their passion for their community into action, furthering Knight Foundation’s focus on informed and engaged communities,” said
Currently, the playground equipment at
“Our motto at NABA is “Get Involved” and this playground project is getting the North Akron Community involved,” said NABA Board Member Chris Ludle. “It will be a place for health and a safe environment for families to gather. It will provide their children with outdoor exercise while having fun!”
“This morning the site consisted of nothing but a vast area of dirt and a towering pile of mulch, and now there is not only a brand new, state-of-the-art playground, but a lasting memory of the hard work that was poured out for the kids of this community,” said Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic.
The playground is one of 13 to be built by KaBOOM! and Knight Foundation this year, and one of more than 150 builds KaBOOM! will lead across the country in 2010 in an effort to provide a great place to play within walking distance of every child in
In addition to the community-built playground, the new play area will also include an Imagination Playground in a Box – a breakthrough playspace concept designed by architect David Rockwell to encourage child-directed, unstructured free play. Complete with custom designed blue foam blocks and other loose parts, and elements that encourage sand and water play, Imagination Playground in a Box allows children to constantly reconfigure their environment and design their own course of play.
About
The North Akron Hot Stove League began operating boys’ baseball leagues in the 1950’s and, over the years, has merged with other boys, girls and adult sports associations. Six baseball and softball fields have been added to the original four fields at
About the City of
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.
About KaBOOM!
Headquartered in
About Imagination Playground LLC
Imagination Playground is a breakthrough playspace concept designed to encourage child-directed, unstructured “free play,” the kind of play that experts say is critical to a child’s intellectual, social, physical and emotional development. With a focus on loose parts, complimented by a manipulable environment and Play Associates, it offers a changing array of elements that allow children to constantly reconfigure their environment and to design their own course of play. Giant foam blocks, mats, wagons, fabric and crates overflow with creative potential for children to play, dream, build and explore endless possibilities. Imagination Playground was conceived and designed by internationally acclaimed architect David Rockwell. His firm, Rockwell Group, has partnered with KaBOOM!, the leading national non-profit organization dedicated to bringing play to kids everywhere. Through this mission-driven partnership, we are committed to bringing Imagination Playground to communities across the country. For more information, visit www.imaginationplayground.org.
CONTACT: Monika Kirbawy, 330-375-2084, [email protected]
Mike Vietti, KaBOOM!, 202-464-6076,