Surrey Square Park Playground To Reopen Saturday

Image: Shutterstock

Release: Fairfax County Park Authority

Both the young and young at heart are invited to attend a dedication ceremony for the reopening of the Fairfax County Park Authority’s Surrey Square Park Playground at 2 p.m. Saturday. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held and brief remarks will be offered as the playground reopens at 4819 Twinbrook Road in Burke.

Braddock District Supervisor John Cook said, “Working hand-in-hand with the community to get this playground from concept to reality has been a pleasure. These types of partnerships are good for the neighborhood, good for government and of course, great for the children and families that will enjoy them.”

Surrey Square is a 9.3-acre park site near the entrance to the Surrey Square subdivision and was donated to the Fairfax County Park Authority in 1965. The park is near the intersection of Braddock Road and Twinbrook Road.

The original playground equipment at the park had been repaired and upgraded over the years, but it had long since exceeded its life expectancy and did not meet current playground safety guidelines when the latest renovation began on May 4.

The new playground features slides and climbing structures and includes a timber border, safety surfacing, drainage, accessible access, an accessible picnic table and fencing. In keeping with the legacy of the original park, a piece of playground equipment shaped as a turtle, which became a community mascot for some 50 years, has been removed, repainted and reinstalled.

Members of the Olde Forge/Surrey Square community worked with Cook’s office, as well as the Fairfax County Park Authority, to fund the $137,300 project. The Surrey Square/Old Forge Civic Association (SSOFCA) raised more than $20,000 and successfully applied for a $20,000 Mastenbrook matching grant to help fund the playground replacement as part of the partnership.