The City of Fairfield cuts ribbon on new park and playground
November 15, 2023 · Projects, Community
Dozens of eager students waited patiently for an hour after school to have their first chance to play at the new Fairfield Park located directly across from Restoration Academy.
The mayor of Fairfield, city council members and members of Restoration Academy’s board celebrated the new playground with a ribbon cutting on November 6.
The playground features two parts, a tot-lot and an area for older children, with multiple slides, swings and climbing equipment for all ages.
“This has been an awesome process to dream and to see dreams come true,” Brian Goessling, executive director of Restoration Academy said. “I love seeing all of our students and people in the community ready to get in here and play. We’re hoping this is just phase one, and we’re hoping we can have many more phases to have a whole park one day.”
Restoration Academy was created to provide private education to predominantly lower-income families. The school often uses Fairfield Park and its playground for recess time as it is right off of the school’s property. However, in previous years the park was shown a lack of attention and maintenance with outdated and unsafe playground equipment.
The new Fairfield Park is not just for the use of Restoration Academy, but also for citizens of the City of Fairfield.
“The kids can’t wait to get on this playground and that validates this whole project,” Mayor Eddie Penny said. “It gives them opportunity to have family time and it’s just wonderful for the City of Fairfield. We’re thankful for the whole thing. We’re going to let everybody know that this is ours, we’re thankful for it and we’re going to protect it. We appreciate this partnership.”
Restoration Academy reached out to Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC) about updating the park while focusing on the playground amenities. GMC functioned as the project lead, serving as the landscape architect and civil engineer. Johnson Kreis worked alongside GMC as the contractor for the project. The City of Fairfield was also heavily involved for approval and to make sure they were confident in the maintenance that would be required for this improvement.
