PARK TWP., MI (WHTC) – As dreams go, what happened at Holland State Park even amazed Sally Starr.
The retired school teacher, who moved from the Detroit suburbs to Holland eight years ago, saw a playground built in 2013 at Grand Haven State Park this spring, wondered if something similar could be constructed at Holland State Park, and began a grassroots effort to raise the funds needed to build her dream for her grandchildren. Starr admitted in an interview with WHTC News that the reality hasn’t sunk in for her yet that a project that she thought would take three years to complete would be completed by Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Local residents didn’t object to building a new setup for youngsters at the park when money was raised to construct the project, but some did voice concerns about its location, saying that it blocked the view of the Big Red Lighthouse, could be in the way of rescuers, was too close to the parking areas for kids to safely play at, and that there should have been more community input into the process. While there were protesters at the site during the playground’s construction, none were to be seen during the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday.
Online fundraising garnered in less than two weeks the 17 thousand dollars needed to get the playground project off of the drawing board and onto the beach of Holland State Park.
