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Wedgewood Park blossoms again
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Wedgewood Park in Austintown
By ELISE FRANCO
Neighbors of Wedgewood Park are starting to recognize it as the park they used to know.
AUSTINTOWN — Images of children swimming and playing flashed before residents’ eyes when the old Wedgewood Park property was purchased by the township in the late 1990s.
When old equipment was removed from the site, however, concerns of vandalism and mischief became a reality.
In 2004, parents, grandparents and other community members, tired of looking out their windows to a vacant lot full of graffiti and litter, formed Friends of Wedgewood Park, said member Carolyn Senedak.
Fast-forward almost five years, and the nonprofit’s 40 members have raised about $25,000 to bring the park back to life.
“When it was the swim club, it had pools and pretty much anything you could think of,” Senedak said. “We decided that for the sake of the children and residents’ property values, we needed to clean the park up again.”
She said Friends of Wedgewood Park is made up of mostly parents whose children would benefit, but also other community members who want to see good things for the neighborhood.
“It’s a lot of busy moms and dads who have put a lot of time and effort into the project,” Senedak said.
Nancy Bell, who has lived a few streets over from the park on Laurie Drive for 40 years, said she enjoys working on a small flower garden that runs along the right side of the park fence.
“I’m planting iris,” she said. “We just put in whatever we can get out of our own gardens.”
Senedak said the equipment has been installed in four phases since 2005, starting with Phase II, which was a play unit for 5- to 12-year-olds.
“It was put in by Dave Durda and others from Home Depot,” she said. “It’s so much more than we ever expected.”
Phase III was putting in a boccie pit and a sand volleyball pit that doubles as a sandbox and fixing up a baseball diamond that she said the township takes care of.
“Right now the field is used for practice, but we’d love to have Little League back on it,” Senedak said.
An addition to Phase III was a game shed at the back of the park, where soccer balls, volleyballs and kickballs can be found, as well as jump-ropes, cornhole boards and toys for younger children.
Senedak said a key is available for adults only to gain access to the shed. “It’s ideal to have if you’re having any type of family gathering, so you don’t have to bring anything with you,” she said.
The last phase of the project began Wednesday morning with the installation of an adult seating unit, called a pergola.
Durda, Bill Stone and Chris Andes, all from Home Depot, were on hand early to set the posts of the structure. They will continue to construct it over the next few days.
Plans to install a tot town fun center, which the group and the township picked out together, are also in the works for the coming spring, she said.
Phase I is hiking trails. Senedak said the group needs to work with the park department to re-establish the trails.
Township Trustee Lisa Oles said the trustees have been willing to lend their support since the nonprofit formed.
“We’ve allocated up to $25,000 to help them with the funding of the play center,” she said. “We’ve participated in fundraisers with them, and we’ve been working along side them since the beginning.”
Oles said the park property, which was previously owned by another association of neighbors, was purchased by Austintown in a property tax foreclosure sale.
“The township wanted to retain whatever green space they could, so for several years, no one made any improvements until [Friends of Wedgewood Park] stepped forward to make it, once again, a neighborhood park.”
Now that community members have put care, effort and money into fixing up the playground, Senedak said they are all worried about vandals making a mess.
“Children need to be taught respect,” Bell said. “They need to respect themselves and respect their property and property of others.”
Oles said during the park’s open season, which ends Nov. 1, township police officers will patrol the park and lock the gate at night.
“Obviously we’re going to have ongoing patrols at the park to minimize any type of vandalism,” she said. “We’re going to have the park department maintain the park down there as well.”
Oles said she’s glad to see Wedgewood Park come to life once again.
“It’s been a way for this organization to bond with their neighbors,” she said. “They all came together for a common goal, and that was to improve this park that basically sits in all their backyards.”
efranco@vindy.com