Honored to Help Rebuild Arroyo Verde Park
The rebuilt playground at Arroyo Verde Park will feature new play structures, a sensory garden, planting areas, decomposed granite path, concrete side-walks, two new drinking fountains, updated ADA parking and an upgraded accessible path of travel to the existing restroom. (Rendering courtesy of the Ventura Community Partners Foundation)
Ventura’s Arroyo Verde Park is a uniquely beautiful piece of land and a treasured part of the city’s history.
Open to the public since 1961, the wooded, 132-acre hiking park in the hills and canyons above Foothill and Day roads took a major hit three and a half years ago when it was badly damaged in the Thomas Fire. Among other things, the park’s popular playground was destroyed.
The playground rebuild has been a long, involved and expensive project spearheaded by the city, in conjunction with the Ventura Community Partners Foundation and with the help of generous community donors. The upgraded, 10,000-square-foot, inclusive playground is expected to open in late 2021.
In Harrison’s ongoing efforts to give back to our partner cities – and especially to help local youths – we have taken a leading role in sponsoring the playground rebuild project. The city thanked us kindly recently, during a virtual City Council meeting in which Harrison was publicly commemorated for being the project’s No. 1 corporate donor.
Harrison’s donation is “going to go a long way toward getting this rebuild done,” Ventura Mayor Matt LaVere said at the meeting.
“We wanted to recognize the Harrison family’s support, for this and really all of the philanthropic work they’ve done in the city,” LaVere said. “They really are one of our great corporate partners here, and this is going to be really a huge catalyst in getting this playground rebuilt.”
In a brief video played after LaVere’s remarks, Myron, Ralph and Jim Harrison acknowledged the city’s thanks. “To be involved in Arroyo Verde Park makes us all very happy,” Myron said. “All of our kids played baseball there. I used to ride up there on my bicycle all the time, myself and my wife, so to get to do this event with the city of Ventura, we’re really happy to be involved.” (See video here.)
For more information on the playground rebuild and opportunities to help, visit venturafoundation.org.
