Castle Downs Park Redevelopment       

 

 Castle Downs Park Users:

 

   

  The Castle Downs District Park, located in the Dunluce neighbourhood, services all the communities in Castle Downs with a population of over 55,000 as well as draws from other neighbourhoods east of 97 street and south of 137 avenue.  The playground and spray park were initially developed by the CDRS in partnership with the City of Edmonton in 1996. Usage of the park has increased substantially since 1996, with increased development in the area and the addition of the skateboard park in 2006. Currently the structures of the spray park and water park are aging, worn and often under repair. Statistics from summer programs show that from 2006 – 2009, between 20,000 and 25,000 people visit the water park every summer during the months of June, July and August. Families plan picnics, day-cares and preschools from area across north Edmonton book field trips to this site. This does not include visitors to the park for usage of sport fields, skate park and special events.

 

  The Castle Downs Recreation Society has formed a Park Planning Committee, made up of representatives from the six Castle Downs, and is now updating and expanding the current amenities at the Castle Downs Park. The community group has removed and is in the process of replacing the worn wooden and metal playground and water play equipment, expanding the water spray park and plan to build a permanent washroom / change facility.  The plan is also to include pathway access to the site in the form of biking, and walking trails from the surrounding communities. The plan also indicates an increased number of trees, picnic tables and benches, as well as updating the recognition signage. Included in the plan is the expansion of the parking area at the park and they would like to install a system / tank to reuse the water from the spray park for sport field irrigation.

 

  Construction of the new site is well under way and will go into the summer months as well. For safety purposes, the current playground and water park to be closed while the redevelopment is being done.

  

  We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause visitors to the existing playground and water park, but our plan is to build a first class park for the Castle Downs and area residents.

 

                                                          Park Update 

 

                        Castle Downs New Playground 

 

Since May 2009 the Castle Downs Recreation Society has been working to rebuild the playground and waterpark in Castle Downs Park.

 

Leading the charge is the Park Redevelopment Committee.  This core group of volunteers has been working since May 2008 to plan and raise funds for the new park.

 

The redevelopment is a $2.4 million project led by the CDRS in partnership with the City of Edmonton, the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada.

 

For 5 days (June 9 to 13) and from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM hundreds of community volunteers worked to install the new equipment for the park.  With this done, work will continue to open the park this summer.

 

The equipment that was removed is being refurbished and will be sent to a village in the Philippines along with recreation and sport items donated by the leagues and schools in Castle Downs area.

 

The pictures below give some “snapshots” over the course of the five days.  The pictures are courtesy of Melanie Wonitoy.

                                                                        

 

The CDRS would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to:

 

The hundreds of volunteers from the community leagues in Castle Downs.

Baturyn, Caernarvon, Carlisle, Cumberland-Oxford, Dunluce and Lorelei-Beaumaris.

These dedicated volunteers worked in the rain and the hot sun from 8 am to 8 pm for 5 days.

 

Sobeys Beaumaris for providing breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days and all of the refreshments to keep our volunteers going.

 

Tim Hortons on 127 Street and 153 Avenue for providing all of the coffee for five days to keep our volunteers energized.