The City of Centralia will seek a $600,000 State of Illinois OSLAD grant for outdoor recreation improvements and enhancements at Fairview Park.
The improvements being proposed include three playground areas focused on three age categories, six months to five years, five to twelve year olds, and 13 year olds and up. They will be for group and individual play. In the six-month to five-year-old playground, one set of equipment is to create a musical playground with the idea to name this area ‘Tactical Tunes Studio” to facilitate Sensory and Creative Play.
The 13 and older playground would include two fitness-focused packages of playground equipment from FitCore Extreme and HealthBeat Outdoor Fitness Systems. The FitCore system provides a fitness circuit workout for ages five and up as an obstacle course akin to the popular Ninja Warrior television series. The HealthBeat system can provide a tailored workout for teens and adults of all generations and fitness levels.
Economic Development Director Derek Sherman says to his knowledge, there are no challenge courses similar to FitCore Extreme within a 30-mile radius of Centralia, which means it could become an outdoor recreational attraction across the region.
A public hearing on the grant application will be held at noon Monday at Centralia City Hall. The city council will be asked to pass a resolution to submit the grant at the city council meeting at six Monday night.
