Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo / photography33
In the not-so-distant past, a visit to one of the many sites owned and managed by municipal parks and recreation departments would have been considered “going to the playground.” Where I grew up, in Richmond, Va., there were many neighborhood playgrounds, often within blocks of most homes. We were clearly within the “10-minute-walk” threshold promoted by The Trust for Public Land.
Those playgrounds usually consisted of swing sets, sliding boards, softball/baseball fields, horseshoe pits, tennis courts, and basketball/volleyball courts with a covered area for arts and crafts. These recollections of playgrounds still bear some semblance to parks and recreation features of today. However, one of the missing links from my youth is the mention of the word “fitness.”
Back then, kids didn’t know what they were doing was making them “fit.” We were just playing. And play we did. From morning until noon when our playground would temporarily close (we never figured out why except maybe to give the staff members a break and force us to go home and eat lunch). We would reconvene at 6 p.m. and play some more until the park officially closed at 10 p.m. We would all lobby to be the one who got to climb the telephone pole and pull the switch that shut off the lights.