Celebrate active lifestyles for kids and get to see Traverse City native Carter Oosterhouse—of HGTV and TLC network fame—all in one afternoon? Yes, please.
Oosterhouse will return to cut the ribbon on a new playground in Greilickville Harbor Park on Saturday, August 14 from 12 p.m.-3 p.m. Taking to heart the idea that giving children a place to play can reduce childhood obesity, Oosterhouse’s non-profit organization, Carter’s Kids, has helped build more than 20 playgrounds around the country.
“Carter’s mission is to promote families to get outside and do more,” said Hollie Coveyou-Rohloff, Oosterhouse’s local project manager for the playground.
“We were contacted by Carter’s Kids and Vancorp Media Group in January because Carter really wanted to build a playground in his hometown. We started looking for sponsors and the right location. We found the Greilickville Harbor Park. It had just been redone, and there was no money in the budget for a playground. It could not have been a more perfect fit.”
During Saturday’s ribbon cutting event, children will be able to do much more than explore the playground. There will also be a water trampoline, games—like who can do the most pull ups— and a professional sand sculpture will be there to inspire a sand castle building contest.
“It’s going to be a great afternoon filled will all sorts of ways for families to have fun,” Coveyou-Rohloff said. “Carter will be speaking at 1 p.m. We’ll also have a lot of picnic style food, including local meat market hot dogs, water, dried cherries and cherry juice. Of course, everybody has to enjoy a little ice cream and pie now and then, and we’ll have local treats like that too.”
Coveyou-Rohloff said this project has truly been an all-community effort. “I can’t say enough about how giving people and business have been to make this playground a reality. From major donors to businesses and individuals who put the playground together to the chefs who brought food down for the volunteers and the people that are helping with Saturday’s big reveal, this entire project happened because so many people have supported it. And that’s also something to celebrate.”
Greilickville Harbor Park is located off M-22 in Elmwood Township at the municipal marina. The Carter’s Kids and TraverseBest.com ribbon cutting event will take place from 12-3 p.m. on Saturday, August 14.
Click to watch a video of Carter Oosterhouse at his Traverse City Fire Station renovation project.