By Breven Honda
On Sept. 4, the City of Mesquite held a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new park playground.
Located at 501 Hillside Drive, the remodeled Veterans Memorial Park Playground gives kids and families the opportunity to enjoy life in the community.
“We opened it about a week before the ribbon cutting,” said Randy Laub, who is the City of Mesquite Director of Athletics and Leisure Services. “I live up in that area, so I go by there multiple times a day, and every evening there’s probably 10, 20 kids down there playing. So, I think it’s been well received.”
After about 25 years, the playground needed to be fixed and up to date.
As a result, the renovation process to remodel the playground began in late June and into early July. With funding supported by the City Council, the green light was shone for renovations to begin.
“We went in, tore the playground out, redid the PIP, which is that rubber surface underneath the playground,” Laub said. “We took all that out, put a new chain structure up, redid the playground (in August) and did the new PIP.”
In addition to Laub in attendance for the ribbon cutting ceremony Mesquite Mayor Jesse Whipple and City Manager Martine Green.
Outside the demolition of the old playground being in-house funds, the cost to renovate the new playground was around $75,000.
The next goal for the park is to have lights with the seasons changing from summer to fall and daylight savings around the corner next month.
“We’re getting ready to install lights underneath the shade canopy because it is starting to get darker,” Laub said. “Those should be done (by the beginning of October) to lighten the playground up, one, for the kids to play longer, and two, for safety.”
When it comes to the name of the remodeled playground, the Veterans Memorial Park Playground, it is way to honor those who have served our country.
“It tries to uphold what the veterans stand for and that’s progress, a little bit of freedom for the kids,” Laub said. “When they have events there for the veterans, we want to keep that clean. We want to keep it up to date. We want to keep a safe environment.
“The veterans have that eagle down in front of the Canon area with those pavers, with the markers that some people have bought for donations. If we can do our part to keep it clean and safe, to enhance the veterans’ area, that’s what we’re here for.”
In addition to the events that honors the veterans, the park is also home to family-friendly events.
Laub said as long as the playground remains in good condition, the future remains bright.
“As long as that playground is in good shape over the next, hopefully 15-20 years, I think it’s endless,” he said. “When we have a lot of people come in from family reunions, they reserve that parking lot. We have a lot of softball tournaments and that kind of stuff that fold down into that playground area. And so, I think it’s non-stop.”
In addition to the remodeled playground, the Department of Athletics and Leisure Services also redid the tennis courts in August. That project included stripping down the courts and resurfacing the four courts on Hafen Lane.
