Yellow Pages
By KATHY BOYD
Features Writer
The planned community play area at Freedom Park on Camano Island has a name after all. And with a big donation from the local Rotary club, it is a big step closer to reality.
A recent communitywide naming contest for the new children’s area on Camano Island ended in a draw, so the volunteer iHeartParks project committee used entry ideas to settle on “Rotary Adventure Playground at Freedom Park.”
iHeartParks project coordinator Greg Gilday said committee members voted several times on the dozens of name submissions from area children, but “no clear winner emerged.”
Instead, the committee worked with lead sponsor Stanwood Camano Rotary Club — which presented $50,000 this fall to the project — to compose a name for the playground planned for construction next spring.
“Rotary Adventure Playground was chosen because the two groups thought it encompassed what the playground is meant for — a place for kids to have fun and explore,” Gilday said via e-mail, noting that the new name reflects the spirit or common theme of submitted names and the overall community.
As for the contest winner, Gilday said a pizza party was supposed to be the grand prize, “but with this wrinkle” they had to find a different option.
Since a picket fence is planned to surround the playground, he said the committee decided each child who participated in the contest will be allowed to name one of the fence pickets. Entrants will be contacted with information on how to have their picket prepared.
While the Rotary donation brings the project to nearly 50 percent of its $200,000 fundraising goal, Gilday said the playground will require thousands of hours of volunteer time, along with talent, materials and cash from every member of the Stanwood Camano community.
“The build relies on having all of the necessary components and volunteers to make the magic of dreams become reality,” he said.
The fence picket-naming option provides an additional fundraising avenue. It will be open to community members wanting to support the project at $35 per picket.
Anyone wanting to help with project in other ways can find an extensive list of components and donation opportunities online at http://www.iHeartParks.org, or by calling 360-722-7811. Donations on behalf of the project may be mailed to the Stanwood Camano Area Foundation, P.O. Box 1209, Stanwood, WA 98292.
The playground was designed by Leathers and Associates using ideas from area schoolchildren, Gilday said. It is expected to break ground next spring with an intensive community build process for five days, May 19-23.
“It is clear that this is no ordinary playground,” Rotarian Mike Ganz said in a news release. “We believe in this project and will work closely with the project committee to help it succeed.”
When finished, the state-of-the-art playground will feature separate spaces for younger and older youth, he said. Similar playgrounds have been built in cities all over the world, including Oak Harbor, Anacortes and Lynden.
“The size, the construction and the connections to community and to family make this a project that is an ideal match with the goals and objectives of our club,” Ganz said.
Read more local news in the Skagit Valley Herald and the Anacortes American, or read it online in the E-edition
