Officials from the city of Jamestown, KaBoom, Parkitects Inc. and residents from the Chadakoin Park neighborhood gather for the ribbon cutting of the new playground that was installed last month. The playground was made possible through a $200,000 grant from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

The young at heart, both adults and children, were having fun on the new playground equipment at Chadakoin Park Friday.

From the past his prime for setting on a swing-set Jeff Lehman, city public works department, to Mary Maxwell, Jamestown Renaissance Corporation neighborhood project manager, going down a slide, the adults who attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new playground had as much, if not more, than the young children.

Prior to the ribbon cutting, Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, thanked all those involved from the community residents who formed a committee to raise money for the project to the Ralph Wilson Jr. Foundation who funded $200,000 for the playground to KaBoom! who helped the community design the playground to city officials who helped obtain the grant award.

“You didn’t just build a playground, you built a community,” Teresi said.

The Rev. Chloe Smith blessed the playground with a prayer before the ribbon was cut officially opening the new play area. Vickye James, Ward 3 council woman, said it was great to see the play area with the orange fence, which surrounding the equipment in order to protect the rubber playground surface, removed.

“It’s amazing … it was breathtaking to see how truly amazing this playground is,” she said. “You wanted something nice. I never thought it would be this wonderful.”

James talked about the process of starting the Chadakoin Park Project Committee with Smith and Regina Brackman. The grassroots community group started meeting with Ben Frasier, Parkitects Inc. project manager, and John Williams, city of Jamestown parks manager, to design a new playground. The committee then started to discuss what playground equipment would be best for the playground with Fraiser, who informed the committee that they would need around $200,000 for the design and new playground equipment.

To start the fundraising efforts, the playground committee sold food at community events like the annual Labor Day Festival at Bergman Park and Jamestown Juneteenth Celebration, which is held at Chadakoin park each year. The community group even hosted the Chadakoin Park Fest-tee-val in September 2015, which leaned heavily upon the volunteer efforts of several musical acts to provide live entertainment. The group also started a fund at the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation in order to raise money.

Earlier this year the committee’s prayers were answered when Frasier, who used to work with KaBoom! contacted Williams about the possibility of applying for the Wilson Foundation’s grant. When city officials discovered they were awarded the grant, the gears switched toward getting the community prepared for the playground build day.

In June, KaBoom! officials held two meetings at Love Elementary School, one was to ask the children what they wanted to play on at the park and the second was to ask adults their thoughts on suitable playground equipment. Elements from drawings the children created went into the design of the new playground.

Last month, during one Saturday afternoon, dozens of volunteers constructed the playground in one day. Leading up to the playground build day, several volunteers also helped prepare the playground for the community construction day.

The new playground is the largest in the city and is American With Disabilities Act accessible.