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A Park Without A Playground

A playground giveaway and a coordinated city effort transformed an underused corner of Manatee Sanctuary Park into a new family amenity.

3 min read

Manatee Sanctuary Park almost had it all. The park, which overlooks the Banana River in Port Canaveral, Fla., had undergone updates including paved parking, updated landscaping, a paved trail, new benches, exercise stations, and a boardwalk overlooking a river.

All it needed was a playground. The underutilized horseshoe pits were a perfect location for such an amenity. But then a crushing blow—grant funding was denied by the state.

And then the phone call came that changed it all.