In 1989, a new Compo Beach playground replaced a small structure near the basketball courts, and a meager swing set by the pavilion.
The project involved hundreds of youngsters, who “helped” with the Robert Leathers design; the backing of the Westport Rotary Club and Westport Young Woman’s League, and dozens of volunteers, who built it over a long spring weekend.
A renovation 2 decades later involved a similar community-wide effort.
Another renovation is planned for next spring. It took is a Rotary project — honoring their 100th anniversary as a Westport club — along with the WYWL.
The elaborate playground is a far cry from this scene, from 1978:
Carolyn Wilkinson was home from college, and headed to the beach.
Controversy surrounded the 1989 playground. A group of residents — worried that it would ruin the view, and attract out-of-towners and partying teenagers — filed a lawsuit.
They lost. The playground prevailed.
And though the view is not the same as in the photo above, it quickly became one of the most popular — and beloved — spots in town.
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and the hot metal slide and monkey bars! 🙂
They had 2 metal slides. Regular and much taller. My golden was a crowd favorite as he had learned to climb ladders. He would climb the ladder and run down the slide. Kids would love it when he went to the taller slide and did the same!
I love our playground. Another amazing one is in Ridgefield at the Board of Rec. It would be good to see for new ideas.
In the 1980’s, they closed many elementary schools because families with kids could not afford to live here. Seems odd that a concern, therefore, would be to keep kids out of Westport on the playground? After all, this town is all about the kids, right? LOLO.