Grand Opening Celebration - Newtown Lions Inclusive Playground UPDATE

The Newtown Lions Club will cut the ribbon for its inclusive playground project at Dickinson Memorial Park in Newtown, CT on Saturday, June 4 at 10 AM, with a rain date of June 5th. The Lions invite the whole community to come out with their children to support this joyous event! There will be free ice cream from 10 AM until noon! Also at the event will be rock painting, giant bubbles and more!

UPDATE 6-1-11: The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Dickinson Park playground in Newtown will go forward as scheduled this Saturday at 10:00 as planned. The three pieces of wheelchair-accessible equipment have been installed. However, the weather has delayed the installation of the rubberized surfacing material in the area surrounding the new equipment. As a result, access to the new equipment will be limited for a few days to allow the surfacing to cure properly. We regret the delay. All of the existing Fun Space playground is still available for use so we hope you will still come to the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The purpose of the Lions project was to upgrade our playground equipment so all kids, regardless of physical ability, can play together. The idea came from Leah Mangino, at the time an eight-year-old student from Middlegate school who was concerned about the challenges her wheelchair-bound brother faced while trying to play at the playground. Leah brought her concern to her grandfather, Walt Schweikert, a Lions Club member who proposed the Club should take on this project. The Lions enthusiastically agreed and have spent the last two years raising money to purchase and install three pieces of motion-oriented and wheelchair-accessible playground equipment in Dickinson Park. The three pieces are a glider and a merry-go-round, each with space for two wheelchairs plus as many as six other passengers, and a special swing for one wheelchair and several other children.

Although in-person fundraising activities were severely limited due to COVID-19, the Newtown Lions Club was able to raise a significant amount of money. There was an "at-home" treasure hunt held in December 2020, another treasure hunt held in April 2021, and a large tag sale in September 2021. Many members of our community made generous contributions. In addition, the Town of Newtown has provided major financial support.

Please spread the word and come out to support your community and help us celebrate this wonderful upgrade to our playground! We hope to see you there!