City of Pierre Receives National Recognition for the Fourth Street Trail
Pierre, SD – The City of Pierre will be recognized as the first Playcore Play Trails National Demonstration Site. Luke Cavanaugh, Regional Sales Manager for GameTime, and Nick Whisenhunt and Les Giddens of Cunningham Recreation, will present the City Commission with their certificate at the meeting June 2, 2015. The City of Pierre will celebrate this recognition with a ceremony the following day, Wednesday, June 3 at the Fourth Street Trail at 9 a.m. The public is encouraged to attend.
The GameTime Play Trails equipment was installed in June 2013. The equipment was supplied by Cunningham Recreation, and can be found along the city’s Fourth Street Trail. The equipment includes five play pockets along the trail featuring various nature inspired play pieces.
Steve Harding, Commissioner of Parks and Recreation for the City of Pierre, said the City is very honored to be named a national demonstration site. “This is a great honor for our City and for our park and recreation department. We started working on the total concept back in 2012 and hosted a symposium sponsored by Playcore to learn about linking pockets of play in a pattern along a trail system. We are seeing families and children enjoying the play trail each day. We had a great amount of interest in sponsors to help fund the various play pods, each with a different theme. I am sure this will be looked on by other communities as a new educational concept in outdoor play,” said Harding.
Play Trails is a revolutionary phenomenon that links pockets of play elements in a linear pattern along or within a trail system. Each Play Pocket is themed with either flora inspired elements like leaves, trees, and mushrooms or fauna inspired elements like dragonflies, turtles, bees and ants. Each Play Pocket features a sign and teaches fun facts about the subject’s contribution to nature and fun activities for the family.
This breakthrough in play environments creates parent-child interaction in the play pockets and along the trail between one pocket and the next. With new ways to attract children to trails, we can grow new generations of children who value public spaces. This is an effective way to create fun while teaching environmental values.
GameTime is revolutionizing family fun by creating family events that encourage physical activity, further develop the parent-child bond, and inspire environmental stewardship in the children of tomorrow. The City of Pierre is truly promoting getting the entire family outside and engaged in nature, as well as promoting a better tomorrow for our children and our community.