The Village of Colp is getting ready to open its first public playground to the community.
Colp is more than a century old and is getting something new - something most communities take for granted.
A playground.
“It started that we had some equipment in garage that we'd gotten from a grant.”
That equipment was in a garage for about 10 years, until village board member Marcella Clark decided that it was time to do something with it.
“Nobody wanted to do anything about it, so I decided to - Let me see what I can do for our children here.”
Clark with her sister Mary Duncan formed the Colp Playground Committee a little over 3 years ago.
They had some of the equipment, but it was for toddler aged children, they knew they needed more and to have it installed.
“We had to raise money”
So the sisters went to work looking for funds in every nook and cranny they could.
“We also had fundraisers to do it, we had raffles, and we wrote grants.”
And Duncan says their work paid off.
“Approximately the value of the playground is about $135,000, we raised $77,000 and the other came from in-kind giving.”
That’s not including the discount from BYO Recreation that knocked down the price of the extra equipment from $42,000 to $21,000 saving these ladies a lot of money and time.
“She just jumped on board and tried to help us and give us a cut because we didn’t have any money you know and things like that, so we were fortunate.”
Children around Colp are getting excited now that construction is almost done, but Clark seems to be more excited than them.
“I come up here and sit some evenings just to look at it and say well thank you Jesus, it’s coming together.”
The playground will open on August 12th.
