By Brandon T. Bisceglia
The main playscape elements of the community playground at Fred Wolfe Park in Orange. Photo by Lexi
Crocco.
Orange’s first public playground is officially open.
The Playground Committee, which was created by First Selectman Jim Zeoli in 2020 to oversee development of the playground at Fred Wolfe Park, announced at the end of August that the long-awaited playground structure is now open to the public.
“The playground includes ADA accessible activities for all children,” the committee said in a release. “Highlights include a towering play packed structure offering distant views to the park beyond, multiple slides, climbing features, ramped ADA accessible play features, ADA accessible swings for different ages and abilities as well as sensory play elements. The playground features a variety of poured in place and natural surfaces for accessibility and safety, as well as a paved tenth of a mile walking loop, and secure fencing.”
The playground’s construction was driven by the complaint that there was no fully public playground in town. While there are playgrounds at places such as the public schools, they cannot be accessed by all residents at any time.
The project was a years-long undertaking. The playground’s planning and placement were often some of the major points of contention among multiple controversies that have dogged the park’s development recently. Those controversies were in part what led to the creation of another, separate committee – the Fred Wolfe Park Committee – early this year to handle park-related matters.
According to the Playground Committee, the playground project was mostly funded by two state grants totaling $500,000, including a $300,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant and $200,000 in state bonding requested by state Rep. Mary Welander, whose district includes Orange. Welander’s request specifically asked for funding provided by the Urban Act grant administered by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
“The committee also led fundraising which successfully totaled over $15,000 in donations from generous members of the Orange community which were used to procure improvements such as memorial bricks, benches, accessible tables, and trees,” the committee said.
“People are loving it,” Zeoli said of the playground during the Sept. 6 Board of Selectmen meeting. “It is fully usable at this time, and it seems to be very well enjoyed.”
There are a number of remaining items to be added to the playground area, including the fall planting of six trees, formal signage, accessible picnic tables and memorial bricks and benches, according to the committee.
Other plans for Fred Wolfe Park are also ongoing, including an upcoming traffic study, paving and the possible reworking of the park’s fields.