City of Northport Gives PARA $250K Check for All-Inclusive Playground

The Northport City Council presented Tuscaloosa County Parks & Recreation Authority (PARA) a check for $250,000 at the biweekly city council meeting Monday.

The check will be used toward the development of a new all-inclusive playground at Sokol Park.

The developing playground will be inclusive to all children with accommodations for special needs and disabilities. The park will include poured rubber safety surfacing, wheelchair-accessible amenities and accessible restrooms with changing tables for visitors of all sizes.

Caroline Lassiter, PARA director of development, spoke with the Tuscaloosa Thread in September of 2020 at the playground's groundbreaking ceremony.

According to Lassiter, the project began in 2016 when a local mother "wanted a playground where her child could play along with her typically developing peers."

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The project consists of four phases of development. According to Becky Booker, PARA's public relations and marketing manager, there will be a grand opening ceremony prior to the playground's opening to the general public on April 21, 2021.

For more information about the development of Tuscaloosa's all-inclusive playground, click here.