Mayor Gerald Aalbers, Sherri Husch-Foote, executive director with Midwest Family Connections and Peter Brown, CEO of the Lloydminster and District Co-op, can’t wait to see the new playground and splash pad get built in the city’s Aurora neighbourhood. Taylor Weaver Meridian Source
Lloydminster will soon see a new playground and splash pad built in the city’s Aurora neighbourhood thanks to a $50,000 investment from the Federated Co-operatives Limited’s Community Spaces program.
Midwest Family Connections, in partnership with the City, received the grant on Monday to build an approximately 2,840 sq. m. play structure, a 12-feature splash pad, and a shaded rest area with benches for visitors to relax.
The Aurora neighbourhood is situated south of 36 St. just west of 40 Ave.
The new play structure will also be the city’s first all-inclusive playground, something Wendy Wagner, land sales coordinator with the City of Lloydminster, is very proud of.
“This day has been coming for a long time,” she said.
“This neighbourhood will have the first all-inclusive playground area, so we’re going to remove barriers for everyone in the community and the region.”
Wagner went on to explain no time is being wasted on the project, with a site walk having taken place yesterday.
“It’s going to start right away,” she said.
“The equipment is already ordered, so we’ll start breaking ground in the middle to end of August and hopefully have all the structures and everything in and servicing by the end of September; it will be up and running 100 per cent by spring of 2024; we only have landscaping to do.”
The new Community Spaces program build is something Lloydminster and District Co-op CEO, Peter Brown, is smiling about.
“We’re excited for Midwest Family Connections for going through the process and applying through the Co-op Community Spaces program, which is a program that’s available throughout western Canada,” he said.
“Groups have the ability to apply and there’s a committee that goes through the selection process, and we’re very fortunate to see $50K coming to Lloydminster this year for this green space.”
Sherri Husch-Foote, executive director of Midwest Family Connections, said the organization was completely thrilled with the donation and can’t wait to start utilizing the new space.
“The development of the Aurora park is really critical for families in our community,” she said. “Having a park on the Saskatchewan side that provides accessibility from a transportation perspective is really important. It was key for us in the development of our early years family resource programming to have a Saskatchewan park that’s not only accessible from a play aspect but also from a transportation standpoint.
“We’ll be delivering programming on-site once the park is in place.”
The Co-op’s Community Spaces program was first launched in 2018 and to date, four local projects have been supported financially.
The most recent was the newly-installed play structure just south of the Lloyd Exh’s Nissan Building.
