Dozens of kids came out to enjoy the new playground equipment at Carroll Acres Park on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. Several can be seen in the background as the ribbon is cut at the park. (Nick Griffin for The Tribune)
CULLMAN – Cullman Parks and Recreation (CP&R) cut the ribbon on its latest project Thursday afternoon: a new, state-of-the-art playground at Carroll Acres Park on the city’s southeast side. Before officials could bring out the ribbon, nearby children had already covered up the new equipment. The first 50 in attendance for the ceremony received free hot dogs as part of the celebration.
CP&R Director Nathan Anderson talked about the need for park renovations in the community and how much the department’s been able to get done since the issue has become a priority.
“About three years ago we started talking about the needs of all our small parks that need attention. These neighborhood parks have meant so much to the communities they’ve sat in for decades and they haven’t gotten the attention that they’ve needed over the last 20 years, so it was important to the board, the council and all of us to start working on these projects,” Anderson said. “Stiefelmeyer (Park) was our first one and we were fortunate to have the Lions Club’s support for that one. Then we moved on to Culpepper (Park) and this park and both of those were funded by the (Cullman) City Council. It was a big need and a lot of people stepped up to make it happen.”
Most of the new park equipment is made up of net-climbing material that presents a different challenge for different age groups and makes for a safe climbing surface. There’s also a zipline and new swings. Anderson thought it was important that this park have unique features that could be fun for a wide range of ages.
“When we started planning each park that we have, we were keeping age ranges in mind. We met with the neighborhood, we asked what the age of the majority of the kids that live in the area were, and we also wanted to make sure, looking at the community, that we had a park for every kid,” Anderson said. “Whether that’s kids that are toddler aged or a kid that’s 13 or 14 years old. In this particular neighborhood, we saw a higher demand with kids aged 5 to 14 or 15 years old. So, when we worked with our playground designer we wanted to make sure we had a unique design unlike any other playground in town that catered to the older children in the community and particularly this neighborhood.”
Carroll Acres Park is located in the Carroll Acres subdivision at the corner of Briarwood Lane Southeast and Timberlane Drive Southeast.
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