City breaks ground on park playground ‘Perk Up’ project
8 Mar 2024
Quality of Life, City of Seguin, News
Dalondo Moultrie The Seguin Gazette
Symbolic turns of dirt Tuesday afternoon signaled the next step in creating fun places for children of all abilities in the city of Seguin.
City leaders participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for installation of new playground equipment coming to Starke Park thanks to residents’ help winning a Perk Your Park Projects grant. Competition for the grant depended upon online voting support and Seguin bested several larger areas to earn a $75,000 grant, Seguin Parks and Recreation Director Jack Jones said.
“We were No. 1 by far, obviously,” he said. “Some of y’all supported multiple times.”
In 1995, members of the community got together to build Kids Kingdom Playscape with their own hands, Jones said.
City officials announced during the summer they needed the community’s help to win the grant earmarked to help replace the nearly 30-year-old beloved wooden playground at Max Starcke Park East. The city dismantled the playground equipment as wear and tear made it unsafe.
City officials heard an outcry from the community and pledged to install additional playground equipment accessible to most everyone.
The National Recreation and Park Association and Niagara Bottling’s grant will pay a small portion of the total for the park improvements, Jones said. City Council put up $300,000 and more will come from the Seguin Park Development Fund, he said.
“There’s no taxpayer money going toward this new playground,” Jones said.
The city has spent considerable time, energy and funding to improve residents’ quality of life, City Manager Steve Parker said. The new playscape is one example among many, he said.
Just in the last couple of years, City Council has put more than $4 million toward parks improvements, Parker said.
Ensuring those improvements are accessible to as many people as possible is important to council, Mayor Donna Dodgen said.
“We’ve made a conscious effort and we’ve made a commitment,” she said. “Every park we put in will be all-inclusive.”
During the Perk Your Park campaign, the city shot a commercial of a little boy informing anyone who would listen about the opportunity. That kid, 7-year-old Houston Larson of Seguin, attended the Tuesday’s groundbreaking.
Houston shared a few choice words about the project, the contest, the grant and the company that helped make it all possible.
“I just wanted this place to get a new playground. I just want everybody to have more fun,” he said. “I just want to congratulate this company for making this the best day ever.”
Play and Park Structures of Southern Texas began the process of installing the playground equipment Friday and Jones expects they will complete construction around June.
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