‘There’s a Real Sense of Community Here’: Pleasantville Residents Unite to Revitalize Roselle Park Playground

By Elaine Clarke

A gray sky welcomed volunteers to the construction of the new playground in Roselle Park on Friday morning. Although the weather was down, spirits were up as the community came together to improve their village. 

Volunteer Andrew Neary moved to Pleasantville in 2023 and felt an instant connection to the community. When he found out the park beloved by his older daughter needed renovations, Neary said he wanted to give back.

“[My daughter] came to this playground—the old playground—and she loved it,” Neary recounted. “So when we heard it was getting renovated, you know, I wanted to come and help.”

The construction of Roselle playground was completed by community volunteers, which Pleasantville Superintendent of Parks and Recreation Mike Newman said is an effective way to involve the community while reducing municipal costs. The village does not yet have have a date on when Roselle is set to open, and Newman noted that “we have a number of things to finish,” and once done a grand opening ceremony date will be scheduled.

Parent Erek Michalak, who lives on South Street near the park, said volunteering to help his neighborhood was a rewarding experience.

“I got two kids, nine and four, so this is our local place,” he said. “Next time we come to this playground it’ll be fun, because I’ll get to point out what we did.”

Pride

Newman organized much of the project, including the creation of an eight-person design committee that was in charge of reviewing and selecting designs for the new playgrounds. Newman mentioned that some of the committee members’ parents were a part of the past building of the old playgrounds. 

“Their parents built the previous playgrounds. I didn’t even know that till after the fact. I just thought that was one of the neatest things,” Newman remarked. “So I think [community volunteering is] just a neat way to engage the community and have a little pride in something that they were a big part of.”

Asked about expenses, he said Roselle cost about $239,000.

“We did receive a grant for $270,000 that is going towards all three playgrounds,” Newman explained.

Along with Newman, other municipal workers, volunteers, employees from Parkitects – partner of the playground design company Landscape Structures – were also there to assist the construction. Representatives like Sara Emery led the workers and volunteers through the different jobs that needed to be done, such as helping build the structure or getting the site ready for the posts. 

“We all have our separate roles in leading the volunteers throughout the weekend,” Emery explained.

Construction of the new playground in Roselle Park is part of three improvements to Pleasantville parks, following the building of a new Nannahagan playground and preceding the construction of one in Soldiers and Sailors Park. (The committee started in September of 2023, working on Nannahagan first followed by Roselle and Soldiers and Sailors).

After two decades, Newman felt it was necessary to address the aging playgrounds in Pleasantville. He mentioned that as playgrounds get older, it becomes harder and harder to replace broken features. It’s important, he noted, that parts are properly installed for each specific feature and not retrofitted. 

“Sometimes parts get harder to find on some of the older playgrounds and we didn’t want to have to continue to close off sections of the playground because we can’t repair it properly,” Newman observed. “So playgrounds are inspected and, over time, I realized that we need to address our playgrounds because they’re becoming more and more of potential safety issues.”

He also said one of his main focuses was expanding play opportunities to encourage more creative play.

“There should be multiple ways to play with the different features on the playground. So, the focus was to place better and more equipment than what was currently there,” Newman said. “We made sure we had a two-to-five and a five-to-12 feature, and also each playground trying to have a few inclusive play areas.”

Fun for All

Inclusive play areas feature equipment designed to accommodate children with disabilities, such as those who use wheelchairs, as well as children without accommodations. Newman said this represents an improvement over earlier playgrounds, which lacked these inclusive features. He added that the committee identified certain playgrounds that could benefit from additional inclusive play options.

“We did want to do one park that had a few more features for inclusive play, and we kind of identified [Soldiers and Sailors Park] being [it],” Newman pointed out. “One of the reasons is the school does a couple events down there, so we figured that might be a good spot to have a few more inclusive play options.”

Roselle playground construction was originally scheduled for April 11 and 12. However, due to weather and scheduling difficulties, it was pushed back to May 30 and 31. 

Neary, for his part, emphasized how he was inspired to lend a hand by the genuine sense of connection and togetherness in Pleasantville.

“This is what I love about this town, everybody’s in it all together, it seems like all the time. Like we come out for parades, we’re always here for our kids,” Neary said. “There’s a real sense of community here.”