The following is from Hillary Kwiatek regarding Higbee Park. Although it’s just outside the NbNW boundary line, it’s still a park that kids from the western park of NbNW are using. Congrats for this improvement to the neighborhood!
Exciting is a word that gets used to death, but what I’m about to tell you about the future of Higbee Playground can only be described as incredibly exciting!
When neighbors cleaned up the park and created the Hands-On Higbee mural in the early 2000s, it got the city’s attention. Additional improvements were made, and the playground has stayed on the Parks and Recreation Department’s radar screen.
Now, the City of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and KaBoom!, a national non-profit organization, are all joining together to offer West Bethlehem the chance to dramatically improve our beloved Higbee Playground.
Proposed enhancements include “greening” the space by removing a great deal of the asphalt, building a great new playground, and adding more shade, seating and other recreational opportunities. The city has a landscape architect working on preliminary concepts for a new orientation to the playground that will make it more accessible and pleasurable for everyone.
While this will be a longer term project, the big kick off will be building a KaBoom! playground at Higbee on Tuesday, June 22nd. On that day, over 100 members of the Pennsylvania League of Cities, who will be in town for their annual meeting, will gather at Higbee to help build a playground and other side projects for us!
BUT there is one more piece to this equation: The Community.
As the captain of last year’s Higbee Cleanup, I was contacted by the city and asked if I would take the lead on getting the community involved in this project. I accepted, and now I need your help!
In order to make the project a reality, we will need volunteers of every sort. Specifically, we need:
Families to attend a special Design Night on Wednesday April 21st from 4-7:30
A group of about 10-12 who are willing to serve as team co-chairs who will help rally more volunteers, donations of food, and loans of tools and equipment
About 15 people to volunteer on each of the two Prep Days prior to the June 22nd Build Day
About 50 volunteers for Build Day on June 22nd
Team Co-Chairs will have the support of the city (and me), so PLEASE don’t be afraid of considering signing on for one of these assignments. Getting involved is easy. Just drop me a note on this page, or message me on my personal facebook page.
This is a huge opportunity for West Bethlehem. If we can demonstrate strong community support for this project, we have a shot at replicating it at other small neighborhood playgrounds and parks throughout the city. The total investment in this project on the part of DCNR and the city could be as much as $120,000.
A flyer will be going home with children from Calypso Elementary School after the Easter Break that promotes the Design Night event. We would love to get about 20-30 kids and 20-30 adults at that event to help map out the plan for the playground and to generate excitement and volunteers for the project.
You can learn more about the great work KaBoom! does throughout the country on their website. Watch some of the videos and see how a community can come together and build a playground in one day!
Please be a part of this awesome project for our families and our community.