New playground awaits hard-working Summerside students

Work is almost complete on a new $120,000 playground at Elm Street School in Summerside.

The playground is the culmination of two years of fundraising and hard work by a school committee, the local community and the students at the school.

The playground is expected to be ready when the students return to school next week.

"It is going to be overwhelming for them, I suspect," said fundraising committee chair Jodi Sharkey. "They have worked just as hard at this as the committee and the community has."

The school was told two years ago that the old playground structure would have to come down, and parents immediately rallied to ensure there would be a replacement.

Sharkey said the support from the community has been incredible.

It included a nomination from the Royal Canadian Air Force Association 200 Wing in Summerside for the Community Revitalization Grant funded through the P.E.I. Department of Fisheries and Communities, and the entire Summerside fire department turning out to help with the build.

"The community just came together and it just was an incredible experience to be a part of," said Sharkey.

The experience of climbing onto the new playground should be especially satisfying for the kids, she said, because they helped to design it.

The playground includes three main structures, including one that is wheelchair accessible.

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