Lexington, KY - Mayor Jim Gray, 5th District Councilmember Bill Farmer, Kenwick Community Center Director Dwayne Rice and several neighbors from the Kenwick neighborhood met on Tuesday to officially open the new playground at Kenwick Park.
The $50,000 playground project features slides, a loop climber, interactive play panels and a seesaw, as well as new benches and ADA compliant sidewalks, which provide access to the park from the Owsley and Menifee avenues. Future plans include improvements to the basketball court and additional green space and trees.
The park's recent facelift has been in development for several years and is the result of a collaboration between Kenwick neighbors and the Lexington Division of Parks and Recreation. Councilmember Farmer said projects like this demonstrate how passionate neighbors can be about making progress in their neighborhoods.
"The mayor knows how important every neighborhood is in the city, and I know how important each one is in the 5th District," Farmer said. "Kenwick symbolizes Lexington's past and its future all at the same time. And I know, the mayor knows and the parks people know from working in this neighborhood how much passion there is to make this a better place for them and for Lexington."
Also unveiled at the Kenwick Park ribbon cutting was a new scoreboard for the indoor basketball court in the Kenwick Community Center, the facility's first. The multi-sport scoreboard was made possible after Farmer allocated $2,000 from the Neighborhood Development Fund.