Hundreds Gather for Grand Opening of New Playground at Largo Central Park

Hundreds of kids and their families gathered at this past Saturday morning to participate in the grand reopening of the park's public playground.

Mayor Pat Gerard, members of the Parks Department and Largo city commissioners were on hand to help launch the new facility, which took three months to complete. The new playground cost the city approximately $600,000.

 “It took us three months to complete the project, and every day there was a kid that came up and said ‘when is it going to be done?’” said Largo Parks Superintendent Greg Brown, before the ribbon cutting ceremony. “It feels wonderful to have all these kids getting ready to go and use it for the first time...I’m excited to see that happen.”

In addition to the days playground events, the new playground  has 34 more activities than the old one. The playground received a much needed new synthetic turf that is safety rated to withstand falls from 12 feet, according to city officials. It replaces the old surface, which was made up of small chunks of rubber that tended to get stuck in the sneakers of visitors.

The important thing in regards to the playground isn’t how the surface feels, but how the kids and their parents like it.

“It’s gorgeous,” said Monica Takacs and her husband Steve, who brought their 3-year-old son, Martin, who also agreed. “We used to come out to the old playground a lot, but we will be coming here a lot more now.”

Visiting from North Carolina, Steven Sparks marveled at the new facility. During the grand opening his son William climbed on the unique Trees & Vines structure, where kids traversed along a circle of elevated steps without ever having to touch the ground.

“We’re here visiting my parents. My dad comes to the park every morning to walk his dogs and he suggested we check out the playground,” Sparks said. “It’s fantastic…we don’t have anything like this (place) in North Carolina.”

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony kids were allowed to roam the playground to their heart’s content. City volunteers shot tee shirts out of a cannon into the field. Kids were awarded for the acorn hunt and got a chance to ride Largo's mini-train. 

“It’s beautiful.  I love it,” said Mario Kulla, father of twins Lucas and John said as he pushed his sons on the swings.  “We have another park closer to our house, but I’m sure we will be coming to this one a lot more.”