NEW PARIS — On Friday, May 5, the Village of New Paris, along with students from National Trail Elementary School and members of the county and community, attended a ribbon cutting ceremony to introduce the new playground at the park along 115 North Spring Street, New Paris.

“Are you guys having fun?” asked Mayor Katherine Smallwood of the students. “Because that’s what we’re here to celebrate today. Fun. That’s what a playground should mean. Fun. Not that getting here was always fun, but it’s fun now and we want you to enjoy it.”

“We want to tell the kids and their parents to come here and have a good time. And I think they are,” Smallwood continued.

Smallwood thanked those who stepped up to assist in gathering funding for the playground, which also allowed the addition of wheelchair accessibility, and a zipline.

“We had a surprise donation that truly warmed our hearts,” added Smallwood. “Mrs. Hammond’s class at National Trail began a Pennies for our Playground fundraising campaign. And that appealed to all the kids at National Trail at all grade levels. The class tracked donations, rolled coins, counted it up. And when they got it all done, they came to our office and brought us a surprise, and they brought us a big check. A big check for $3,000.”

“That’s a lot of pennies, and a lot of support,” Smallwood said.

Smallwood noted the $3,000 donation raised by the National Trail students allowed the village to add “the finishing touches” to the playground, which would not have been possible without the generosity of all the donors.

Smallwood thanked those in attendance, including the board of Preble County Commissioners — Adam Craft, Rachael Vonderhaar and David Haber; State Representative Rodney Creech, Director of Economic Development Justin Sommer, and the Village of New Paris Council members — Ralph Dungan, Kimberly Fields, Mort Maish, and John Arthur.

Smallwood also thanked New Paris Chamber of Commerce Director Chris Reke, Service Director Jimmy Ragsdale and his staff, and all of the presiding educators who were also in attendance.

Reach Nathan Hoskins at 937-683-4057.