Community installs playground
By Kim Holmes
JOHN CASEY, operating the cement mixer, smiles for a quick photo as workers assemble one of the slides on Ashland’s new playground during a volunteer work session Aug. 27-28 in which community members came together to complete the new playground.
ASHLAND – Other than a little wind, conditions Friday morning, Aug. 27, in Ashland were perfect. The weather was perfect and so was the group that had gathered to make history happen.
By 8:30 a.m. the tractor-trailer which held some of the final pieces for our beautiful, new school was unloaded and the playground equipment was being unwrapped. Within no time, holes were being dug and pre-assembly assignments were being handed out. Workers from our community’s forest products industry had been called upon by project coordinator, Kim Holmes, and in true community-spirit fashion, they answered. It was a great sight to see employees from Irving Woodlands, Fraser Timber, Maine Woods, 7-Islands and Orion Timberlands all working together to create a playground any child would love. It was evident that this crew had come to work, and work they did – some until after 7 p.m. and then returned Saturday morning by 6 a.m. to “git-r-done.”
With a soccer game in Presque Isle pulling some of the volunteers away, cell phones were pulled out and replacements were on-site in no time. Helpers, ranging in age from 6 to 68, kept busy digging holes, mixing and pouring cement, assembling climbing structures, cleaning up trash, running for parts and tools, anything that needed to be done. By Saturday evening, cleanup was under way and two fantastic play structures and six swings were left.
With the cement curing, there was nothing left to do but wait … wait for this day – Sept. 8, 2010 – to arrive at last. The day when the doors would finally open and the children would have their opportunity to play on this playground – to climb and slide and swing to their hearts’ content.
Photos courtesy of Kim Holmes
SHELLI CONDON watches on as, from left, Mary Caron, Amos Ward, Ann Hall and Shari Ward hold pieces in place as Andrea White secures a clamp on one end as Ashland community members construct the playground at the new school.
CHRIS BESSEY became the “swing man” at the playground build project in Ashland.
