A new playground is now officially open along the Windsor River.
The newly completed Legacy Park playing field replaces the old Legacy Park playing field, located west of Caron Avenue, which was installed as a legacy project when Super Bowl 40 was held in Detroit in 2006.
The new playground is located at the location of the old Dieppe playground, at the east end of Legacy Park, near the foot of Church Street.
It will maintain the football theme of the previous structure and include a seating area built into the retaining wall of the trail that extends south of the playing field, providing views of the city of Detroit and the Detroit River.
James Chacko, general manager of parks and facilities for the City of Windsor, says the old playground was very well used.
“Now you have this beautiful NFL themed playing field. It features the Honolulu blue and silver colors to pay homage to our beloved Detroit Lions across the river. It pays “also tribute to some of the local NFL players from Windsor and Essex County in Luke. Willson, Tyrone Crawford and OJ Atogwe,” he said.
A jersey bearing the name and numbers worn by LaSalle’s Luke Willson, as well as Windsor’s Tyrone Crawford and OJ Atogwe (Ah-tog-way), are integrated into the playing field structure.
The City of Windsor’s new playground is located at Legacy Park near the foot of Church Street along the Windsor River. The NFL theme park features many local NFL players, Luke Willson, Tyrone Crawford and OJ Atogwe. December 14, 2022 (Photo by Rusty Thomson)
Chacko, we have such beautiful parks in Windsor like this.
“We definitely have the beautiful riverfront and the view of Detroit. It’s definitely something you can’t replicate in the world,” he says.
The city spent $400,000 on the new structure.
Chacko says they wanted to make sure the legacy of Super Bowl 40 in the NFL continued.
“Super Bowl 40 was such an important event for this region, it’s something you want to recognize going forward. I think it was important that we maintained that theme and it was something that the audience was very happy to see,” he adds.
The Legacy Park play structure is one of 125 public playgrounds in Windsor that are being improved and upgraded as part of the playground replacement program.
