Bonshaw playground looking 'great'

A new playground in Bonshaw Hills Provincial Park is beginning to take shape. Crews began building the climbing hill and slide on Monday and it's expected to be complete by next week.

"It looks amazing. We're getting folks seeing it from the highway, pulling in and asking 'what's this all about' and 'isn't it great,'" said Garnet McLaughlin, owner of Cobequid Trail Consulting, which is managing the construction.

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The playground is part of a $130,000 project to improve the park and its trail system, paid for by the provincial government. It will be a "natural playground," with traditional elements like slides and swings.

"As people picture a playground, they typically picture something with metal and plastic attached to it," said McLaughlin.

We've taken it to a different level.- Garnet McLaughlin

"We've taken it to a different level with the design firm and province to use some of those traditional elements we know work, i.e. slides and swings, but actually build them into the landscape and fit the park theme," he said.

Sod now being laid will take at least a week to set, but he said each section of the playground will open as soon as it's finished.

'Come out, see it'

"I suggest people come out, see it, ask questions. We're friendly. They may see something I don't see," McLaughlin said. "The biggest thing is once it's done, I want to see kids play on it and see if all the elements work and if they don't we'll make changes while we're here."

The playground will feature swings, more climbing spaces, washrooms, and a picnic shelter. Much of it will be accessible with paths being made out of crusher dust, a wheelchair-friendly material that McLaughlin describes as "the next best thing to pavement."

Part of expansion

The playground is part of a bigger project to expand the Bonshaw Hills Provincial Park. Eight kilometres of new trails are being built with an emphasis on natural green space and environmental protection.

"The ecological services that Islanders get from that are also huge and hidden," Megan Harris, co-chair of the Bonshaw Hills Public Lands Committee, told CBC in May. She said the park expansion will lead to improved air and water quality in the area.

Natural elements reflected

"You can't put natural areas in a bubble. [Islanders should feel] that they own that area, that they value it for its recreational elements but also for its natural elements," she said.

McLaughlin said those natural elements will be well-reflected in the playground.

"It's an extension of the Bonshaw Park. It's a playground theme that other parks in Atlantic Canada could model from. A natural theme that has a design behind it," he said.

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