“Wanna see me jump off the swing?” asked Candace Loftin, 12, at the new Northaven Woods community park in north Columbus.
“I can do it too!” said Antwan Gilmore, age 7.
“I wanna try!” chimed in Kattie Blaylock, age 8.
And they jumped and laughed and ran, obviously thrilled with their new local playground, along with dozens of children at the official park opening on Saturday afternoon.
It was a sunny, warm day with a breeze that lifted the smell of the roasting hot dogs through the park along with the music as community members lounged and chatted on the patio and at picnic tables.
Local resident Laurie Todd thought this day might never come. A 25-year resident of the community, she”s been patiently waiting for the park to open since before the 2007 groundbreaking.
“I moved here because I wanted a safe place to raise my children,” Todd said. “At the time they were very young. I always thought it would be lovely to have a neighborhood park, because my kids love to play outside, but we didn”t have one of course. Now I think this is a lovely place for me to bring my grandchildren if I ever have any. It kind of is and has been sort of a dream come true for me.”
The park features a walking track, a lighted pavilion with grill, swing and slide set, and picnic benches. For the opening, a bounce house was brought out, as was a fire truck for the children to tour. The YMCA”s Herman Peters brought balls and hula hoops and led kids in fun exercises.
“This has become a beautiful family gathering place,” said Whirllie Byrd, Northaven Woods Park chairperson. I think this park is going to bring families together, bring a cross-section of the community together, because it is a community park and as you can see, the (kids) gathering now are the face of the new Columbus. I hope it will bridge family gaps. We can have family gatherings here, and even events to support the city itself here.”
“When the groundbreaking took place in 2007, I was really leery of if anything would ever come of it, but I”m pretty proud of what we have here today,” said Todd. “I”m a walker and the walking path is great, and it”s fantastic to see little kids out here having fun.”
“This is just a great family gathering place, and will hopefully support and encourage a healthy family,” said Byrd. “Come out here and walk on the track that you”ve already paid for with tax dollars.”
Northaven Woods residents are welcome to enter the park at the walkway from Wisteria Road. Community members should enter through Marguerite Drive. From Wilkins-Wise Road, Marguerite is the first left off of Tufline Road, which runs behind Monroe Tufline farm equipment and Pizza Hut.
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