Groundbreaking ceremony for Strathmore's newest park

Lakewood of Strathmore held its groundbreaking ceremony for its first public park this afternoon.

The three-acre site named Brave Park will be a community hub open to all of Strathmore, according to Lakewood of Strathmore's Director of Sales and Marketing Scott Silva. He explained around 2 acres of of the park will be "open programmable space," which is a space that can be used for many things like "soccer, frisbee, or anything recreationally programmable." There will also be a playground and a pickleball court.

One of the more unique aspects of the park is its technological advancements, which Silva is excited to share with the community.

"Right now we are working with Shaw to make the first totally free Wi-Fi park in all of Strathmore and the outside Calgary region. This is not a Shaw Go Wi-Fi park, it is a fully automated Shaw service that we're looking to provide inside the park," he said.

A design concept of what part of Brave Park could look like, including the pickleball court, playground, and monument.
Source: Screenshot from liveinlakewood.ca/parks

As for the name of Brave Park, Silva explained the name is meant to pay tribute to the pillars of our community and to honour our heroes.

"We wanted it to be a commemoration to our fallen soldiers, our fallen officers, all of our frontline workers, and part of our local and regional Indigenous past. We really wanted to signify all those that we've lost and all those that came before us and really show the courage and bravery that all of those people had, and all the current service members do in providing for our community."

The centrepiece of the park will be the Brave Park monument, and as you walk through the park Silva explained they are planning on installing different informational boards about some of the heroes that have served in our community.

Given the scope and ambition of the park you may think it will take a long time to have the park finished, but Silva said it may be quicker than you think. The planning and development team have been working on this for years, so now that construction is beginning he expects it will only take around 6 months, as everything is expected to be done by the end of the year.

You can find more information about the park and Lakewood at their website here.

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