St. Albert celebrates grand opening of Kingsmeade Park

St. Albert celebrated the grand opening of a new outdoor park on Sunday.

Designed with a nature theme, the Kingsmeade Park has a playground, walking trails, sports courts, an outdoor rink with boards, a covered heated social hub, and open spaces for unstructured play.

Manda Wilde, St. Albert interim manager for recreation facility development and partnerships, told CTV News Edmonton that the new park — located in the Kingswood neighbourhood —- has unique features for families to enjoy.

"There's a lot of plantings on this site," she said, adding that the site was designed for children of all ages — from those in elementary to junior high school.

According to Wilde, the playground also boasts St. Albert's tallest slide.

"It's got a little more accessibility than other playgrounds in St. Albert as well," she said. "Part of our goal in parks is to make them more four-season friendly."

The city says the park will cost around $4 million, once final installation and construction is completed this spring. A federal grant contributed $2.5 million to the project. Construction began in June 2021.

"We started from scratch (at the site)," Wilde said. "It was a farmers' field when we got it."

"It's a really different kind of park," said Stephanie Fredrick. "We don't have anything like this in our neighbourhood, and it's only a 15-minute drive. So far, it was really worth coming."