By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Summer vacation for Beaufort County students begins this week, which means that families will have more time to visit the local parks and playgrounds to enjoy the time off from school and the warm weather.
Beaufort has many parks with playground options, but due to renovations to the park equipment, families who prefer Pigeon Point Park will have to find a new park to enjoy for a few weeks.
The park is currently closed to the public as renovations began in mid-May and are expected to last eight weeks, weather permitting, according to City of Beaufort Public Information Officer Ashley Brandon.
The park is anticipated to reopen to the public by the second week of July.
The renovations came about because of the “degradation” of the aging wooden playground equipment at the park, and it has become a safety hazard.
The playground previously was home to wooden play structures for children aged 2 to 5 years old and 5 to 12 years old, two single slides, a merry-go-round, a four-seat teeter-totter, a tot tree, a ribbon wall climber, a mushroom walk, a musical set and multiple swings.
As several of these items have been deemed unable to be serviceable or repaired, they are being replaced.
The estimated cost for the project is $500,000 and will be funded by ARPA, Parks and Tourism Fund and the Capital budget.
According to a post made to the City of Beaufort’s Facebook page, no trees are being removed and the only work that is being completed is playground equipment replacement.
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
