Civitan Park 'a great example of an inclusive play area'

Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·3 min read

Sep. 12—Efrain Ramirez, 4, had a big smile on his face as he reached the bottom of one of the slides on the new playground at Dalton's Harlan Godfrey Civitan Park.

"Oh, he really likes this," said his mother Gloria Ramirez. "There's so much to do."

City officials held the ribbon cutting for the new playground on Thursday at an event that drew local business leaders and educators as well as plenty of parents and children.

"This play area is unbelievable," said Mayor David Pennington. "Once again, Dalton has the premier facilities in the state. There is nothing more important than recreation to this community."

The City Council in February approved a $349,359.73 contract with GameTime of Longwood, Florida, to replace the playground at Civitan Park. The new playground is handicapped accessible. The old playground was not handicapped accessible and some of the features were broken.

According to city officials, Civitan Park is one of Dalton's most-used parks. At 505 Shugart Road, the park opened as Civitan Park in 1997 on land donated by the Dalton Civitan Club. In 2014 it was renamed for Harlan Godfrey, a longtime Dalton Civitan Club member and leader and former member of the Dalton City Council who was instrumental in the park's creation.

Paul Belk was one of the members of the Civitan Club who donated the land for the park to the city some 30 years ago.

"This is really great," he said. "The whole park is better than we ever envisioned."

Allison Whittle, chair of the city's Parks and Recreation Commission, said the new playground will probably be the most seen and most used playground in the city.

"It's nice to see so many children enjoying it," she said.

City Administrator Andrew Parker said his goal and the goal of all city department heads is "to make Dalton the best city to live, work and play in Georgia."

"One of the biggest connections the city has to that goal is through our parks department," he said. "These are the amenities that bring young families to town. For the last two years there's been a big commitment to reinvest in the park system, and there couldn't be a better example of a plan coming together than this."

Parks and Recreation Department Director Caitlin Sharpe said she and recreation commission members wanted to make sure "we provide a playground that's going to be used."

They reached out to Allison Chlebisch, a fifth-grade teacher at City Park School. They used her class members as a focus group and asked them to list the top five features they'd want in a playground.

"We took their vision and used it to develop this," Sharpe said.

In addition to the slides, climbing area and the zip line, Sharpe said swings will be installed soon.

"And there's what we call a sensory area," she said. "That's a quiet area, safe for little ones. This park is a great example of an inclusive play area."