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EDINBURG — Children from the local Hidalgo County Head Start program fidgeted with anticipation Wednesday morning as they sized up the new and improved Milo Ponce Park in Edinburg.
They hopped in place and wiggled their hands about as speakers told the story of the park’s upgrades, waiting for the moment they could hit the playground. One little boy who was smaller than the rest of them couldn’t break his gaze from the park, and spoke later in Spanish of what he was looking forward to playing with.
According to Precinct 4 Commissioner Ellie Torres, the project initially began as a renovation of the park after a concerned father called the county in regards to the safety of the park after he saw various cracks in the playground.
She explained that as the improvements began she also saw it as an opportunity to make the park universally accessible.
“Now that we’re at it, we’re going to go ahead and make it inclusive for all children,” Torres said. “We also had the opportunity with the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) fund that came about for improvements such as this, so we just took advantage of that.”
The county held a ribbon cutting Wednesday morning in celebration of the park’s reopening. Also, the park now includes various accommodations that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), making the playground more accessible to children with disabilities
The $365,000 project was funded entirely by the ARPA funds with no additional cost to taxpayers, according to Torres.
According to Precinct 4 Commissioner Ellie Torres, the project initially began as a renovation of the park after a concerned father called the county in regards to the safety of the park after he saw various cracks in the playground.
The new improvements include various ADA compliant details such as turf grass, a wheelchair accessible merry-go-round, ADA swings, and a sidewalk that makes the playground more accessible.
The county also hopes to establish a canopy near the playground that will host about five to six tables. The canopy will also be ADA compliant.
“So that our families can in the future can utilize this area for birthday parties, celebrations, graduation parties, anything of that nature,” Torres said.
