For the second time this week, the City of Prince Albert officially opened a new playground facility.
On Thursday, City officials, administrators, and members of the public were on hand to open the new 3,900 square foot Alfred’s Sprayground, located on Cook drive in Crescent Heights.
The total cost for this project was $350,000, made possible through partnering with the Malcolm Jenkins Family Foundation, which contributed $230,000. The City of Prince Albert contributed $120,000.
“It’s our (Canadian Tire) 100th anniversary and I wanted to do something special,” Jenkins said. “We have a spray park here. Why do we do it? Because they didn’t have one.”
This is the second park City officials opened this week. The other came on Tuesday near Westview School.
Jenkins said they didn’t plan to open two new parks in just a few days. They just wanted to get the unveiling done as soon as possible.
A third recreation project supported through the Alfred Jenkins Family Foundation will open in the spring. That project is a zipline that’s part of the Rotary Adventure Park out in Little Red River Park.
“The Rotary was going to do their Adventure Park and I wanted to do a zipline park for some time,” Jenkins explained. “I thought, ‘why don’t we build one right next to it and attached to it,’ so that’s what we are doing. It won’t be open until spring because it’s tough getting labour.
“I am glad we got these two done and we finally got the contractors to resurface the outdoor gym (near the Field House) and that will be done by the 25th, so that’s three in the bag this year.”
Jenkins said he helped build the recreation facilities because it’s good for business owners to get involved in the community.
“If you do good stuff and you have a good product and you are fair to your customers, people come back and they like you,” he explained. “They feel it’s like one big family. They see we put our money where our mouth is.”
The Spray Park features include and Acrylic Tot Show Dome, Aqua Gather, Flash Flood, Mini Flash Flood, Tot Size Well Spring, Whirlflex, Triple Arch Jet and Junior Water Jewel.
Curtis Olsen, Sport and Recreation Manager for the City of Prince Albert, said the new spray park will benefit not only Crescent Heights but the entire community.
“This will be well utilized,” Olsen said.
“You see those buckets? To add that here, I think, is just wonderful for the people of Crescent Heights and for the city too because anyone can come here.”
The area adjacent to the spray park features an outdoor rink and basketball courts and is located behind John Diefenbaker Public School and St. Catherine Catholic School.
“We have got the football field here so the River Riders utilize this area really well for football. You add the spray park it will be just another amenity for the community and everyone in the city. It’s another option to take advantage of,” Olsen explained.
Grade 4 and 5 students from John Diefenbaker Public School and Grade 1 and 2 students from St. Catherine also attended the opening.
The City gave away ice cream sandwiches to all in attendance in celebration of the occasion.
Olsen said he was thankful for the partnership with Jenkins and the investment from City Council.
“We run a playground program here and that’s where I am really involved with Erin Hurd, she does a tremendous job. When they come here we used to have the paddling pool, which served its purpose, but you add this (and) it’s just tremendous. I think the people will thoroughly enjoy this spray park that is here today.”
This is another project which has the name of Jenkins’ father, Alfred Jenkins, attached to it.
“If he came down he would be embarrassed, he was a very shy man,” Jenkins said.
Speakers included Jenkins, Parks Manager Tim Yeaman and Ward 5 Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick.
The Crescent Heights Spray Park was highlighted in the State of the Playgrounds report update in 2021 as a playground/park requiring updating and refurbishment.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
