Volunteers from five Kiwanis clubs across northern Ontario joined forces at the growing Rosedale Park on Saturday for this year’s ‘Kid’s Day at the Park’ event.
Hosted by the clubs of Sault Ste. Marie, Lakeshore, Timmins, Nipissing, and North Eastern Ontario, the free event had a variety of outdoor games for families with young children including frisbee, ring toss, soccer, giant Jenga, and more.
Kids also enjoyed a barbecue and picked out prizes following their activities.
Located on Chapple Avenue, Rosedale Park has undergone a significant amount of revitalization efforts since 2022 and has been an area of focus for the local Kiwanis clubs in terms of fundraising.
Financial support from the City of Sault Ste. Marie, Child Care Algoma, and Kiwanis exceeded $215,000 for the park at this time last year. Since then, local clubs have been raising money for the park, among other initiatives, at pancake breakfasts and child-friendly events throughout the year.
The budget for the Rosedale Park Revitalization Project as of last year was $261,500, which will include new playground equipment, trees and benches, as well as a new pathway to connect the park to the parking lot.
Kiwanis Club of Lakeshore member and former governor Serge Vieu says they’ve already built a pair of jungle gyms and they’re on track to installing most of the park’s remaining amenities by the wintertime.
“The zip line and wee-go-round have been ordered and should arrive next week,” he told SooToday. “Once those arrive, they’re going to install the rest of the equipment like the swing sets.”
Other items on the way include a multi-coloured park bench, picnic tables, and 20 trees which were recently planted.
Vieu is also hoping to see a 20 x 30 metre rubberized basketball court installed nearby once enough fundraising dollars come in.
“It’s about $20,000 for the basketball courts, and we’ve raised half of that already,” he says. “I think this is going to be the next best thing to Bellevue Park. We’re going to have ten play zones by the time it’s done.”
Giselle Chiarello, Kiwanis’ lieutenant governor for clubs across northeastern Ontario, says Rosedale Park will serve as a vital commodity for residents living in the Chapple Avenue neighbourhood.
“There’s a lot of families in this area who just didn’t have a space to go to,” she says. “It’s an underutilized space, so it’s fantastic the city collaborated with the Kiwanis clubs to do this. Kiwanis is all about supporting children and families in our communities, so this is very exciting for us.”
“The census from a few years ago shows that within one kilometre of the park, there’s over 1,500 children,” Vieu adds. “Since then, we have a lot more people coming to Sault Ste. Marie with young families who live around here. This park is much needed because a lot of them don’t have transportation, so it’s going to be well utilized.”
Other than some minor added costs, Vieu says the project is still relatively on budget.