Williamstown receives playground grant

Williamstown will join only three other cities in Kentucky in being called a “playful city.”

Williamstown was awarded a $20,000 grant to construct new playgrounds at Webb Park.

The city will have to match the grant with $10,000 that must be raised strictly from donations.

“This whole grant is based on community involvement. That’s what they were after,” said Williamstown Mayor Rick Skinner.

Skinner said he has already contacted some groups in the community and plans to contact others such as Parent Teacher Associations and preschools.

“We’re going to ask for donations from places that will benefit from the city having this type of playground,” Skinner said.

The grant will pay to construct two parks, one for children ages 2 to 5 and another one for children ages 5 to 12.

In order to determine what young children want in a playground, the city will be asking them.

“We want them to draw up what they want as a playground and activity area,” Skinner said.

Skinner said the project is expected to be completed in the spring and will actually be built in one day with an army of volunteers.

“Part of the grant was being able to have 75 to 100 volunteers on site that day so that construction is completed in one day,” he said.

The city plans to utilize some of the volunteers to spruce up the park.

“This grant was a hard one to get,” he said. “There was a lot to it including already touching base with groups in the community to would help with construction down to providing snacks for workers.”

Skinner said other cities such as Murray, Ky. have been able to obtain a Playful City grant for several years, which means they are able to add on and keep their project growing.

The grant is made possible by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group as part of its Let’s Play initiative to get kids and their families active. Together, through Let’s Play, Dr. Pepper Snapple and KaBOOM! Will build or fix up 2,000 playgrounds by the end of 2013.

“Williamstown is probably the smallest city chosen, but it’s the first step and a starting point for our future. We’re just pretty proud to be one of four selected,” Skinner said.