Pete's Park Honors ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Inspiration

Pete’s Park is now a reality in name, but that doesn’t mean the efforts have ended to make the former Longfellow Park on Middlebury Lane a state-of-the-art facility.

Last week, the city council unanimously approved the name change of the neighborhood park in honor of Pete Frates, the Beverly resident with ALS who helped launch the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS last year.

A month ago, an online petition began circulating to change the name of the Frates’ neighborhood park to Pete’s Park. By the time the petition got to the city council, it had over 1,000 signatures, including that of Mayor Mike Cahill.

But the online efforts are far from over. Now the emphasis has turned to fundraising to make the park a neighborhood and city showpiece fitting of Frates’ name.

Donation details for the park and a GoFundMe link to help raise money for the park are coming soon on the A Park for Pete website.

The goal is for this park to be an all-inclusive, multi-use, integrated park that meets the ADA’s (American’s with Disability Act) standards of accessible design.

Those behind the park effort want it to be a park that Pete can actually visit to watch his daughter Lucy and play with his nieces and other neighborhood children.

Plans call for a shaded picnic area, an ADA play structure, resurfaced tennis courts, and a half-court basketball court.