Cascade, MT

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: The Town of Cascade created an accessible picnic area in North Railroad Park, within walking distance of many local amenities. Town staff poured a concrete pad for the site, where they installed a walled seating area with two ADA-compliant picnic tables and a new flagpole. The local garden club lent a hand by filling at the site planters with flowers. Each year, the Town evaluates the accessibility of the projects it undertakes, and town leaders are committed to providing gathering spaces where residents of all abilities can gather.

Asheville, NC

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: After Buncombe County Recreation Services installed new instruments in Charles D. Owen Park -- including lily pad cymbals, a tenor tree, tuned drums and flower gongs -- park attendance increased nearly 20 percent in one year. The instruments, created by the Freenotes Harmony Park company, don't include sharps or flats and are designed to be played using arm and hand muscles rather than fingers. That way, people of all musical abilities can play them without training. More than 400 people also participated in three workshops focused on designing artistic tiles for the new space with themes of compassion, peace and diversity. The creation of the Real Possibilities musical garden sparked new projects, including the park's first TRACK Trail (self-guided, family-friendly outdoor adventures with prizes), enhanced sports courts and bird nest boxes that allow researchers to study tree swallows.

Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK

AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2020

Project Category: Park enhancements

Description: In partnership with Great Land Trust and Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation constructed an ADA-accessible, scenic overlook viewing platform at the newly opened Settlers Bay Coastal Park. The platform, which includes a safety railing and seating, allows visitors of all abilities to enjoy the panoramic views at Mat-Su Valley's first and only coastal park. Prior to the development of Settlers Bay Coastal Park, locals lacked access to public lands for outdoor recreation. At an unveiling event for the new platform, the Great Land Trust announced they had acquired an additional 180 acres of land adjacent to the existing park, expanding the total permanently protected land area to 500 acres.