Bargain price for a big-hit park

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/09/2010 (5804 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In this job, you learn to expect the unexpected.

And the unexpected is exactly what I got yesterday, when my editor asked me to head out to a media preview of Assiniboine Park’s new Children’s Nature & Adventure Playground.

I’m not sure if my story  on page B1 of the Free Press today really did the place justice, even with the benefit of Ruth Bonneville’s delightful photos.

I’ll say this: the place is only about half-done, and my jaw quite literally dropped as soon as I walked in. I hadn’t heard of the nature playground project before I went to the preview, so I was completely taken by surprise by how beautiful, whimsical, and well-designed it was.

I wanted to run through the willow tunnels. I wanted to skip around the oak-branch snake sculpture that twisted through the flowerbeds. I wanted to roll down the hummock hills… but I was wearing high heels.

Mark my words: next spring, when all of the play features are installed (and there are many) and the site is finished, this place is going to be a summer wonderland for kids and families. And it’s going to be totally free to attend.

Here’s what struck me the most: the entire two-acre playground and garden site, plus the significantly expanded duck pond, cost about $6.2 million, thanks primarily to a $3.6 million investment from the city, with the feds and private donors picking up the rest of the tab.

Now, I’m not an estimator. But I will say that to my amateur eye, $6 million for the exuberant and intricately designed and landscaped site I saw yesterday afternoon seemed like an absolute bargain.

When I mentioned this to Park officials, they humbly explained that because there’s not a lot of engineering needed on this mostly-landscaping project – because they’re not building big buildings or putting in pipes — the cost comes in pretty low.

Fair enough. But it’s not the pipes or the steel frames people care about; it’s the use that they get out of a government-funded project. And in this case, even with the site only half-finished, I knew in a heartbeat that this place is going to be a very, very big hit.

So, note to government funders. Give us more of these, please: smartly planned, creatively executed and budget-friendly projects that pack an entertainment punch, put Winnipeggers to work and offer a wallet-friendly boost to the average family’s enjoyment and happiness in their city.

Sometimes, in Winnipeg, we get our sights set on huge projects. And they too have their place and time. But the standard the Children’s Nature & Adventure Playground is going to set next year will prove, once and for all, that making a major, world-class investment in Winnipeg and Winnipeggers doesn’t have to break the government bank.