Kiwanis Tot Lot #1, located on the corner of First Avenue and West Crow Street, is one of the sites of Kent Parks’ summer playground program. A nice surprise awaits participating children this season – a brand new playground – and they will get to cut the ribbon when Mayor Suzette Cooke officially dedicates the playground at 1:00 PM on Thursday, July 2.
The City of Kent originally acquired the park property in 1949. In 1965, the Kiwanis Club helped develop the park by purchasing and installing some play equipment. Additional play structures were installed in 1977 and replacement play equipment in 1995, which is fairly typical of a playground’s “life cycle.”
Kent Parks served as the host of a WRPA (Washington Recreation & Park Association)- sponsored class that gave parks staff from other cities the opportunity to participate in a two-day playground installation. Funded by a Community Development Block Grant, this project also includes the renovation of the basketball court, installation of a plaza area for the summer playground program and fencing.
Wow. Yesterday’s “re-dedication” of the Kiwanis Tot Lot #1 in downtown Kent of Willis was a sweet event! (Literally – the cupcakes were huge!) Kiwanians from Auburn & Kent were there to support the City of Kent Parks Department, the neighborhood children & their families. The day was sunny & beautiful and the kids were so excited! The park has amazing new equipment, and boasts picnic tables & a BBQ. The Mayor was on hand with her large ribbon-cutting scissors, while many “safety scissors” were passed out to the children to help in the ribbon cutting. “1, 2, 3, go!” and they all cut the ribbon, which was tied around the play equipment, at the same time. “Yay!” It took a half-hour out of my day, but I can think of no better way to spend it. It was a sweet treat to take part in the celebrations!