A new community park in one of Calgary’s most southern communities is bringing accessibility and fun to residents’ front doors.
Central Park, located in the new community of Yorkville at 121 Yorkville Park SW, was an eight year long project.
The four acre park opened on July 22 at 11 a.m. with a festival atmosphere, offering visitors live music entertainment, skateboarding demonstrations, food trucks, giveaways and a ceremonial ribbon cutting.
Mattamy Homes designed the new park in association with the University of Calgary’s Urban Lab with the vision of giving Calgarians, particularly those in the Yorkville community, a space that is amenity-rich, public and accessible in every season.
Joe Case, vice president of land development at Mattamy Homes said that they’ve pushed the boundaries of what the city typically envisions for parks built by developers.
“It really is a leap of faith from everybody involved in order to try something bigger, to try something a little bit different than what suburban Calgary has seen over the last couple of decades,” said Case.
The park offers visitors access to a skate park, a tobogganing hill, a fenced off-leash dog park, table tennis, playgrounds, an art plaza, a skating rink and a future storm pond.
Although the park was designed to bring a public and accessible meeting space for Yorkville residents, Case emphasized that the park welcomes everyone.
“The park is designed to be a public space in its purest sense,” he said.
“Everybody in Calgary is welcome to enjoy it. That’s the beauty of public spaces, that everybody has the opportunity to enjoy it.”
Park a hit with skaters
Mattamy Homes said that the skate park on location is the only one in the southwest quadrant that is south of Anderson Road. Although, the community of Woodbine has a few ramps and rails attached to their outdoor courts facility.
The Central Park skate park the fourth permanent skate park in southwest Calgary. The developers said that they put a focus on accessibility for both the playground and skate park, ensuring that key aspects of the park are wheelchair accessible.
Chase Caldwell lives in the Yorkville community and was excited to see a skate park so close to home. An avid skater, he has been practising tricks on his scooter and skateboard for the past two years.
“I enjoy riding, it helps me clear my head and I don't have to go for a ride or get my parents to bring me, it's just right out the door,” said Caldwell.
Bijan Kabani came from a neighbouring community just to visit the new skate park. He said that the openness of the Central Park skate park allows for connections to grow, and his board to flow smoothly.
“It brings a whole community together, different people meet each other and create friendships [and] bonds,” said Kabani.