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Summerlea Park play program starts July 13

The Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues (EFCL) is putting on a drop-in play program this summer in our park. The program starts July 13th and will run until the end of August.

Program Location: The program will be held in Summerlea Park, in the playground/field area. 

Program Hours: Monday-Thursday, 1:30 – 3:30 pm.  There will be one leader on site with a maximum of 25 participants.

Who can participate: The target audience is children ages 8-12 years old.

How it works: Because the site will be run as a drop in, children are free to come and go as they please. They will be asked to check in with the leader as they come and go for ratio purposes.

The leader will collect name and emergency contact information from the children as they drop. This is necessary in case there is an emergency or a health alert that needs to be passed on to parents/guardians.

Leaders will also do a short health screening with participants before the program begins to ensure everyone’s safety. 

Washroom use: Children will be asked to return home to use the washroom during the program. 

If you have any questions about the program, send us an email to info@summerlea.org

Summerlea Plants a Pop-up Garden

If you’ve been at the Summerlea Park lately, you may have noticed a new feature. Summerlea is participating in the City of Edmonton’s Pop-Up Community Garden Program. The pilot program was set up by the City to ease the worry about food security.

To participate in the program, the Summerlea Community Garden Committee submitted an application form, which included a statement about how the garden would contribute to the food security of our community.

Our response was as follows :

  • The pop-up garden will raise awareness about the potential for growing our own food. Most residents live either in houses with small yards shaded by mature trees or in condos, which makes growing vegetables difficult. The pop-up garden will demonstrate the value of community gardening, especially during the harvest season.
  • The children of the neighborhood will be exposed to vegetable gardening.
  • The produce from the three extra garden boxes will go to the Food Bank or Mustard Seed or whoever is most in need. A portion of the September harvest will be reserved for our annual celebration in the park.

Since we made the application, two more families joined the garden, leaving one planter purely for the community. As of June 4, all planters have been sown.

We are still working on our application to the City for a permanent community garden, and we’re currently at the project charter stage. Help is always welcome. If you want to join the group, or just get on our mailing list, send an email to communitygarden@summerlea.ca.

Playground Opens Tomorrow

The City of Edmonton has just announced that as of May 22, our playground, along with many other facilities, will re-open. Here’s the announcement.

The pandemic precautions still apply. The City tweeted “Play safe to stay safe. When using these spaces, maintain 2m physical distance, gather in groups of 50 or fewer, only share common equipment w/ members of the same family or cohort, stay home if you feel sick, bring your own sanitizer & use before and after activity.”

Here is the City’s Playground page. And here’s a printable chart on what you can do in these spaces that have just opened up.

If you would like to learn more about the City’s plans and announcements for the recovery, visit the City’s COVID-19 page.