The Boissevain Playground Project is one of three Manitoba projects contending for the 2025 BASF Growing Home Contest and now it's down to the community vote to determine which community project gets the $25,000 First Place Prize.
Each year BASF accepts donations from across Western Canada for their Growing Home contest for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. They receive hundreds of community project nominees and narrow it down to three finalists per province for the public to vote on.
"So, we want everyone in Westman to vote for the Boissevain School's Playground Project," shares committee co-chair Heather Janssen.
"It's so very exciting! I think it was over 600 nominations between the 4 provinces so to be one of the final three in Manitoba is really quite exciting!" she adds.
The Boissevain Playground is up against another southwest Manitoba project, the Louise Aquatic Centre in Pilot Mound. The third project in Manitoba is the Hero's Alliance group in Lac du Bonnet. All three projects are very unique and worthy of the $25,000 Grand Prize. Second place contenders receive $10,000 and third place lands $5,000 towards their community project.
The Boissevain playground project stems from the equipment needing some serious upgrades as many of the playground structure is 50 years old. Fundraising efforts began in October of 2023.
"It started with our playgrounds just kind of starting to fall apart," explains Janssen. "They're 30 to 50 years old. Our maintenance crews have done a fabulous job of looking after them all these years and making fixes where needed. But the reality is that there's a good bit of equipment that's 50 years old and it just can't continue being fixed. So, it's time to replace it."
"Both of the playgrounds, the middle years and the primary, have pea gravel for their base, which is not an accessible surface," she adds. "One of the big things will be to put down engineered wood fiber or rubber safety base on the primary side so that anyone needing mobility aids like wheelchairs or walkers will be able to participate on the playgrounds and play along with their peers and families."
The entire project is divided into 3 stages, with the first phase being to upgrade the Middle Years playground with hopes to work on that this summer. The Primary Years playground is the next phase, to be followed by the high school area where teens can hang out with a sitting area and perhaps a basketball hoop.
"We're definitely aiming for the Grand Prize of $25,000," adds Janssen. "That $25,000 would be really exciting for the project!"
Please listen to more with Heather Janssen on the Boissevain playground project below.
To view the three finalists per province, visit the Growing Home with BASF website page HERE. To see the Manitoba contenders specifically click HERE!