Butterworth Discovery Park

The Butterworth Discovery Park is sure to be the best, new thing in our small town. Just close your eyes and see the round, center cut logs as stepping stones or large, leafy arches to provide shade and flattened logs laying down used as balance beams. Everything placed in the park would be within the natural elements of the great outdoors. Now don't you wish you lived closer to bring your children or grandchildren to this marvelous park?  A Healthy Clendenin will come together with the people of the community to raise funds and build the park as one combined force. There is currently only one playground in town which is owned by the elementary school. During school hours that leaves our youngest generation no place to play outdoors in a social setting. There is one other location, but it is no longer kept up and is comprised of a broken swing set and some spring rides which are in need of repair. The location for the nature discovery park is two streets over from the center of the town’s main street shopping, one street back from the post office and across the street from the public library. The central proximity makes it a prime location to be used often by everyone in town.

Within the initial phase, and depending upon the weather at the time, we will need to do specific things in an exact order to achieve the best outcome.

1. Verify the FEMA approval has been achieved with the submitted proposal of our plan. (October 2014)
2. Place signage of “Under Construction” at the park location to inform and educate the community about our future plans. (October 2014)
3. Clear the land of current asphalt and loose asphalt. (October/November 2014 if weather permits)
4. Work with the landscaper to purchase all equipment and materials necessary to construct and build the discovery park. (End of 2014/Early 2015)
5. Prep the land and mark the areas of location for the natural elements that children will use and play on. (Spring 2015)
6. Work with the community to have a building day which will have children and adults come together with A Healthy Clendenin to build The Butterworth Discovery Park. (March/April 2015)

The Butterworth Discovery Park will enable children to be outside, active, and creative. They will not only use their minds at discovering new things but their bodies will absorb Vitamin D from the sun while playing in the fresh air. The younger children will have a location to play while the older children are in school. The older children will have a new place to explore outside of the current school playground. With the location being across the street from the library this will enable them to use it for learning experiences as well.  Once achieved, this park will enhance the lives of the children in the town of Clendenin beyond words.