THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 12, 1995 TAG: 9505100154
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Children will have their first opportunity to try out Chesapeake's new Fun Forest playground, built by the labor of 1,800 volunteers, on May 22.
An official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facility is planned for June 3, but it will be open to the public a week earlier.
``We didn't have the number of volunteers that we expected,'' said Mike Fitchett, materials acquisition chairman. ``But we certainly had quality workers. Everyone has been incredible. Many not only gave money and materials but also came to work.''
The $200,000 park was built entirely with donations of money and materials and constructed by volunteers.
Mary C. Haddad, the project coordinator, compared the effort to an old-fashioned barn raising that brought people of all ages and walks of life together in a common cause.
Nancy and Richard Stevens and their daughter, Rosalie, 16, worked on the project all week.
``It's our way of sharing and learning civic responsibility,'' said Richard Stevens. ``Besides, we can't wait to use the park.''
Brian and Lisa Parton, who also gave a week of their time to Fun Forest, live in Norfolk but said they were looking forward to bringing their children, Christopher, 6, and Taylor-Marie, 3, to Chesapeake for picnics and play time.
Not only did local businesses donate lumber, concrete, mulch and cases of nails and bolts, but area restaurants furnished 10,000 meals and the Coca-Cola Co. donated 750 cases of drinks. Black & Decker Inc. donated almost all of the power tools.
On Sunday evening, a crowd of 75 gathered to bid on drills, saws, impact wrenches and screw guns as the tools were auctioned off. Proceeds of the auction also were donated to Fun Forest.
For safety, there's a single entrance into the fenced park, which includes bridges, pull-up bars, parallel beams and a fireman's pole. There's also a green-scaled, red-eyed dinosaur slide, a fort, a pirate ship and a doll house with a blue-shuttered window. Whisper dish satellites, an abacus, a tube telephone system, chimes, prisms, a tubed pipe organ and a periscope are part of a section of the park devoted to learning and discovery.
For smaller children, there's a tot-sized airplane with controls, a rocking turtle, monkey bars, swings and a truck donated by Cavalier Ford.
Along the nature trails, there are bird viewing stations and picnic tables.
Fun Forest is the largest handicapped-accessible park on the East Coast, according to John and Ila Ann Cannon, Fun Forest's advisers for the handicapped and special needs. Slides, swings, picnic tables and benches accommodate wheelchairs. Everything is also labeled in Braille for the blind.
``This is one of the largest and most unusual parks we've designed,'' said Paul Hansen of Leathers & Associates, the Ithaca, N.Y., architectural firm that designed the park. ``It's unique to Chesapeake.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Children will have their first opportunity to try out the new Fun
Forest playground, built by the labor of 1,800 volunteers, on May
22.
by CNB