Crawford Park, sitting in Franklin Township and bordering the Borough of Waynesburg, has been a place for the children of the area to play, and just be kids. The Franklin Township supervisors have been working the last five years on renovations to the park that will continue that tradition now and for years to come.
“For us, it was important to create future places for the kids to play,” says Franklin Township Supervisor William Walker. “The community has needed that for a long time and to have nice new renovated facilities will hopefully help out local organizations allowing for softball tournaments and other youth sports programs.”
The original land for the park was bought by the township in 1989 and the park officially opened to the public during 1995. Since then, the park has been a safe haven for the kids of Greene County. However, over the years, the park began to age and the township saw the need for renovations. Walker had been there since the beginning and wanted to work to ensure that the youth of the county had a place to continue to call their own.
“I have been an employee of the township for over 44 years, and a working supervisor for the past four years, so I was there when the township first purchased the property back in 1989,” Walker says. “I have seen the growth of the park when the original building was constructed, the fields were established, and the playground equipment was installed. Over the past several years, the entire area has definitely shown its age and was in desperate need of a remodel.”
The remodel process has been a long one, delayed by different factors including the COVID-19 pandemic. But, with the help of former State Representative Pam Snyder and State Senator Camera Bartolotta, the township received two government grants and two private grants to start the process. With the help of these grants, the township was able to raise the original building above flood level and completely renovate the top floor to house concessions, an announcer’s booth, and balcony seating. Along with the changes to the building, a retaining wall was built behind the softball field backstop, a new playground was installed, and the park is now fully ADA accessible.
The help of the grants, Act 13 funding, and the outpouring of community support was the driving force behind these changes and helped make them possible.
“It shows that a lot of people were interested in making (Crawford Park) a better place for our kids,” Walker says. “We all wanted to do this for the kids to give them something to do and keep them busy and the community showed that they wanted to do it for the kids as well.”
“There are several people we want to thank, including Pam Snyder, Camera Batolotta and the countless others who helped make this possible,” adds Franklin Township Secretary/Treasurer Angela Riley. “It has been a long process that we started back in 2019 and we can’t thank everyone by name, but we appreciate all their support.”
The plan is to finish renovations by 2024 and have the park fully open by spring. It has been a long process to get the park back to where it needs to be, but once it’s open the township knows it will be a place where kids can be kids.
“We know it has been a burden to Youth Sports and Community Residents during this process,” says Franklin Township Supervisor and Vice Chairman Todd Hoy. “However, when the work is fully completed I think people will be happy with the way the park looks.”