A northeast Springfield church continues to develop a 40-acre park it created for the public.
Over the weekend, Praise Assembly held a ribbon cutting for an accessible playground at the park at 1511 E. Snider — off N. Glenstone Ave.
Church member and a project leader of Northeast Community Park Vince Crunk said the playground is the latest phase in the multi-year, multi-phase project.
"And that includes our pickleball court, volleyball, basketball. We have the large pavilion and, of course, about 3/4 of a mile of walking trail, as well, already in place," he said.
Praise Assembly decided to turn the land it owned adjacent to its building into a park after learning that the area needed more outdoor space for the public.
Crunk estimates the cost of the project so far is around $1 million. The church was able to secure funds from local foundations, but members donated a lot of the money for the park. He said the cost of the playground alone is around $275,000.
He said they knew from the beginning that they wanted the playground to be accessible.
"When we started talking about this, we wanted to make sure that all kids would have an opportunity to play without, you know, some barriers to their involvement," he said.
Planning for the playground began years ago, according to Crunk. The church formed a committee whose members included people in the neighborhood, in the community at large and church members. The committee helped design and determine what should be included in the playground.
He said future plans include adding community gardens, a ball field and maybe a dog park.
As someone who's been involved with the park project from the beginning, Crunk said it feels good to get to this point.
"This is a great, you know, milestone, a great thing to see it finally come to fruition."
