by Garrett Fodor
With temperatures continuing to rise, local youth now have a new place to beat the heat.
On Saturday, the Town of Tecumseh officially opened its new splash pad, located at St. Mary’s Park, for area residents to enjoy. Local politicians and constituents attended the unveiling ceremony.
One of the major speakers of the afternoon was Mayor of Tecumseh, Gary McNamara, who described Saturday’s events as one that was a long-time coming, with the process beginning in 2011.
“We started a complete Parks Master Plan in 2011 and we wanted to know what was important to [residents] and this splashpad was certainly one of those ideas that was important to add to their park here. So, we included it in our plan,” McNamara said. “The folks here, the volunteers, really work hard to maintain the grounds and they also contributed to the project.”
Also on hand to make a presentation were representatives Michelle Mongeau and Shaun Fuerth of St. Mary’s Park, which made a $25,000 donation to go towards running the park and looking after the grounds.
Part of Saturday’s festivities was the healthy kids community challenge, which was designed to get youth active. After the splashpad’s opening, the Town of Tecumseh hosted a “Power off and Play” day with Summer camp staff putting on fun activities for the youth in attendance. McNamara said this project has been part of a bigger one in which he wants to see more youth outside and participating in activities rather than indoors.
“We started to put money aside on the recreational side for projects like this, so we could improve all 41 of our parks. We have spent in the millions refurbishing and redoing our parks,” McNamara said. “The kids are running around burning calories and that’s what our whole intent is, we want our parks utilized for every generation.”
The park will be open everyday throughout the summer and into the fall from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.