What Is The Project?

The existing playground in Putnam’s Public Square in downtown Pinckney is over 30 years
old and is not safe by today’s standards. A group of local residents have formed a team
that also includes local government officials and school administration with the goal to
replace the current structures that sit on the southwest corner of the square.

Putnam Township approved the team’s plan at the April, 2002 Board Meeting, and the
team immediately began a contest with help from the elementary schools to name the
playground. Jackie Price, who co-chaired the Brighton Imagination Station project in
Brighton has been serving as a consultant to the team throughout the project. The
playground is to be a community built project, as was the Brighton one, with fund raising
and actual construction done by those in the community. The similarity to the Imagination
Station stops there, however, as this project will not be as large, it will be constructed out
of coated metal and plastic and the ground cover will provide wheel chair accessibility.

In May, the team chose Pinckney Elementary student John Wilson’s entry of “Unity Park of
Putnam Township” as the name for the playground. This name fits what the team would
like to see the project do to promote community unity. With a name and logo defined, the
team printed T-Shirts, developed some design concepts to present to the community, and
created a booth for Art in the Park. Community response has been great, and the team
refined the equipment layout for construction in two phases, and hosted several fund raisers to make the playground a reality.

Ongoing fund raising activities included opportunities to buy a “Piece of the Park”, give cash donations through the “cc” donor program, The Chamber Matching Fund and Business
Challenge Programs. Refer to the corresponding web pages for complete donor details.

The next big events were Putnam Unity Park “Pizzaz”, an event patterned after the
telethons organized by Dan Cutright for Pinckney Elementary, and the now annual "Pinckney Rodeo".

Construction was complete and the final ribbon cutting ceremony held October 30th, 2004.

So thanks to your support, now we are:
ready to play!!!