September 10, 2020
By:
County Mayor Tim Stribling and Chamber Director Suzanne Williams are excited to announce that the new Alexandria City Park Playground will soon become a reality. “Thanks to DeKalb County being awarded a Three Star Grant, new playground equipment will be in place within the next 3 to 4 months,” says Suzanne Williams, writer and administrator of the grant. “A big thank you to UT/TSU Extension Agent April Martin who headed up the Alexandria City Park Playground Committee, Alexandria Mayor Bennett Armstrong, Alexandria City Recorder Elizabeth Tetlow, Alexandria City Council, County Mayor Tim Stribling, DeKalb County Commission, as well as all the Alexandria moms and other local volunteers who provided valuable input on the playground design.”
After advertising an invitation to bid, sealed bids were received in the office of County Mayor Tim Stribling. On August 27th, the DeKalb County Purchasing Committee opened five sealed bids for the project. According to Williams, “It was a difficult decision on which playground proposal to accept. It was evident that a lot of thought and effort had been put into all the plans. Several people involved in the project spent hours carefully studying each design. But at the end of the day, only one could be chosen.”
The winning proposal came from GameTime c/o Cunningham Recreation – in business since 1929. In their proposal, Cunningham offered a beautiful 3D color rendering that highlighted a sky-blue plastic modular playground system featuring 2 slides, a rock-climbing wall, arch climber, straight crawl tube, pod climber, bongos, and driver’s panel with fun seat. Their other free-standing equipment pieces include a metal dome climber and a 4-seat spring-mounted rocking Buck-A-Bout. GameTime will also provide the recreation area with borders, engineered wood fiber surfacing, and an inground bench for the adults to enjoy. The fun and colorful playground will include many safety measures such as access/egress points for adults to quickly get to children, if necessary and will meet all current federal CPSC, ASTM, IPEMA standards and ADA requirements for playground safety and accessibility.
The Alexandria City Park Playground area is located at 102 Fairgrounds Road, Alexandria behind the DeKalb County Fairgrounds.
County Mayor Stribling says, “We are so grateful for the Tennessee ThreeStar program that support us as we work together to maximize our local assets. The new Alexandria City Park Playground will be a great enhancement for DeKalb County and a fun place for families to visit and enjoy for many years to come.”