Summer encourages a community to get outside. Beautiful weather is an enticing tradeoff for our indoor activities. Children especially benefit from the warm sunshine and fresh air that summer provides. For generations, Buffalo kids have spent summers at local parks and playgrounds, a tradition we hope will endure. As the Conservancy works to ensure enhanced park features for our youngest visitors, we want to highlight the gift of safe places to explore outdoors. The philanthropy that funds our park’s redesign will have a generational impact on the children of Buffalo and all who visit our greenspace.
A city built to benefit its citizens does not ignore the needs of the youngest generations. Those needs include access to safe and engaging greenspaces. In scientific research, the evidence overwhelmingly shows a range of health benefits linked to regular access to nature. The connection between good mental health and access to greenspaces during childhood is crystal clear. The play spaces of this park will have a big impact on our kids. In the long run, this will benefit the city as a whole. Paying attention to the quality of childhood in a place can have a substantial return on investment. High quality park playgrounds are well worth the effort.
The new design of Ralph Wilson Park aims to attract visitors of all ages – from the youngest to the young at heart! Kids will soon have their pick of spaces made exclusively for them. In Phase 2, we will add a central playgarden featuring a massive freighter ship, giant salamander, and huge least bittern, which will encourage kids to climb, crawl, and explore on playgrounds highlighting our industrial and natural heritage. A partnership with Kaboom! and community design meetings will finalize plans for another outdoor playspace slated to be built this year. This one will replace the existing playground on the 4th Street side of the park. These two areas join the park’s existing splash pad and Buffalo’s most widely used public pool. Together these all make the future park the place to be for kids.
Image: Some of the new play spaces for kids at Ralph Wilson Park’s playgarden.
Beyond these new play spaces, improved baseball and softball diamonds, soccer and football fields, and lawn space for outdoor games will keep kids active. The new park will also feature a lagoon and, in a future phase, a kayak launch. These will make accessing our incredible freshwater lake easier for boating and fishing adventures. Even getting to the park will be more kid-friendly. The new pedestrian bridge will transport everyone safely across a highway and into the park. The built features in the redesigned park will offer so much to our younger visitors.
Image: rendering of one of the future baseball diamonds at the park
When we first started this heritage project, we saw a link between this park redesign and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. One of these global agendas focuses on cities of the future. Among other things, improved access to urban parks, especially for children, are a priority. The final redesign of Ralph Wilson Park will be a huge investment in our own city of the future. We are building a piece of heritage for generations to come. In doing so, Ralph Wilson Park will provide an incredible resource to visitors of all ages, with kids perhaps enjoying the greatest benefits of all.
Article written by Kathryn Grow Allen. To read more about the project this article is a part of, check out our HEP page for past and future reading on heritage-building at Ralph Wilson Park in Western New York.
Lead Photo: Buffalo kids have a long history of spending summers at local parks. This historical picture shows children playing on a slide in June of 1970 at a Buffalo Park. Collection of the Buffalo History Museum, General Photograph Collection.
