New Hamilton Beach playground has its grand opening ceremony

It was a fun-filled day for the residents of Hamilton Beach on Sunday, as the neighborhood’s brand-new playground was officially opened to the public.

“It’s almost two years to the day that this community, along with many others, was hit with Hurricane Sandy. Not long after Sandy, I was contacted about the playground in Hamilton Beach,” said Roger Gendron, president of the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association. “After many months of planning, I’m happy to say that the children in this community now have a new playground.”

The grand opening event consisted of a bouncy castle, pumpkin patch, balloon clown, popcorn and cotton candy makers and a station for children to paint Stars of Hope, which were displayed all around the neighborhood of Hamilton Beach after Hurricane Sandy struck.

The playground set and project funds were donated by Resorts World Casino. In total, the cost was $40,000 to take down the old Sandy-stricken set, replace it with the new one, add two new benches to the play area, take off the old matting and replace it with new matting.

Gendron was contacted by Councilman Erich Ulrich, who told him Resorts World wanted to come in and rebuild the playground, soon after Sandy virtually destroyed it. They then got together with Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder and state Sen. Joe Addabbo, who worked with the National Parks Service and Local 1010 of the Pavers and Road Union to have the playground built.

The project was started in mid-August and was totally finished just last week, but Gendron and the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association wanted to hold a grand opening to thank all those who helped make the project possible.

On behalf of our entire community, I want to thank Resorts World for everything you’ve done for us,” Gendron said. “Resorts World has shown their generosity to Hamilton Beach over and over again and I just want them to know that we truly appreciate everything they’ve done for us.”

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