Press Release by Barb MacFarlane

Funding Support by “Let Them Be Kids” for Fort Augustus Heritage Park

Wow! In less than three months, Fort Augustus Heritage Park will have a “Build Day” With the support of various funding partners, and now with the announcement that we have received a Let Them Be Kids Helping Hands Award for 2010, our dream of having a park where children can play on playground equipment, adults of all ages can exercise on outdoor fitness equipment, and wheelchair bound citizens can have a place to play, exercise, and socialize will become a reality sooner than we thought possible. This award will give a 50/50 match for every fundraising dollar that is raised to go toward the purchase of equipment. We are very excited to be given this National Award”, says committee chair, Barb MacFarlane, “but we also realize there is a lot of work involved.” And that’s where Ft. Augustus and surrounding communities come in. About 150 volunteers will be needed on “Build Day”, Oct. 30th, 2010 to make this ambitious project come to fruition---everything from preparing food for the workers, carrying water, shoveling gravel, and everything in between. . ”.


Our goal is to not only provide a safe and fun place for all citizens to gather, but to enhance that “we can do it attitude”. By having adult equipment and children’s playground equipment in the same general area, we hope to foster intergenerational support and appreciation as well. “Like in the story, The Little Engine That Could,” says committee member, Cheryl Good, “ on Oct. 30th, we will be the little community that did”.

The design of the playground will be the result of a democratic process called dot-mocracy. Children vote on the kinds of components they would like to see in the structure by using tiny stick-on dots. Bel-Air Playgrounds will then use these results to design a play structure that includes features identified as most appealing by the children. The same process will determine which adult outdoor gym equipment to purchase.

Let Them Be Kids is a charitable world-wide program, which acts as a catalyst in building strong communities through building playgrounds in areas of need. Led by founder, Ian Hill, the organization was named by the World Leisure Congress as “one of the four most innovative leisure programs in the world.” More information about this organization can be found at www.ltbk.org.


If you would like to volunteer, make a donation, or for more information please visit our website at fortaugustus.ltbk.ca or call 902-569-3577. This is an opportunity for active participation and to develop a sense of optimism about the future of our community.

Scott Redmond Memorial Tournament Weekend!

Well what a weekend August 6th-8th turned out to be! The Scott Redmond Memorial Softball Tournament weekend...there was ball Friday, Saturday and Sunday...and beautiful weather for it too. Then on Friday night there was a silent auction , Saturday night was the dance, and Sunday was the closing ceremonies. From what I have heard the ball games all went very well as they do every year and the weather even cooperated this year...many comments were made about how we usually have rain at some point on the weekend every other year. The Silent Auction on Friday night brought in record crowds as well, and Linda Redmond was very happy with the turnout. Saturday night was a night to let loose and have some fun at the Fort Augustus Rec Center and the dance floor remained packed right until the end of the night. At the closing ceremonies it was announced that there was more than $10, 000 raised this year to be donated to the Heritage Park Playground build! What a honor to be able to participate and help in such a wonderful event! Thank you Linda and the Redmond family for your support of the Heritage Park playground!

Strawberry Social and Fun day...ANNOUNCEMENT DAY!

Well what a great day we had for our Strawberry Social and Fun Day today...the sun was shining and it was a beautiful warm day with only a slight breeze. A perfect day to come together as a community and have some fun, socialize and meet some new people. And what a perfect day to give such awesome news to our community. Barb was up first to welcome everyone, including politicians Lawrence MacAuley and Alan MacIssac. Then it was up to Cheryl and I to generate some excitement about our huge news...we were granted a Helping Hands award from Let Them Be Kids and were getting a playground for our community...a playground for children and adults! This is fantastic news and we wanted to get everyone excited, and involved. We will need lots of hands for lots of jobs come October 30th, 2010..our build day! So the announcement was made, we passed out some flyers and talked to lots of people. We held our DOT mocracy, we drew everyones hands to make our bridge for the ribbon cutting on the build day, we had local entertainment, we had strawberries and ice cream (YUMMY). We also had some activities for the kids which included a soccer game with kids vs adults..the kids won with the last goal...a 3 legged race, a water balloon relay,and a huge water balloon fight at the end which the kids loved. There was also face painting and tattoos that the children took full advantage of. A wonderful day was had by all and we are calling the day a huge success. Thank you to all who attended from the Heritage Park Committee, and we can't wait to see everyone on the 30th of October, when our dreams become reality!