Group proposes Cape all-accessible park

Mark Knoderer envisions a day when children and adults of all abilities in Cape Girardeau will have a playground they can call their own.

While Cape Girardeau has playgrounds scattered throughout the city, Knoderer said none is geared with ample special equipment for disabled children, forcing some of them to travel as far away as St. Louis, Carbondale, Ill., or Paducah, Ky., to enjoy such playgrounds.

If a plan presented during the monthly First Friday Coffee comes to fruition, that could change.

The idea for the playground was one of five presentations members of the 2009 class of Leadership Cape made Friday at the Show Me Center. Each year Leadership Cape participants form teams and create a community project for future consideration. Started in 1985, the initiative is a seven-month leadership development training opportunity for community leaders to familiarize themselves with various facets of the city.

The park project idea came from Andrea Cunningham.

"Some of the parks around the area have bits and pieces for disabled children, but nothing like what's being proposed," Knoderer said. "Our group's main goal was to generate exposure in this area."

Modeled after Zachary's Playground in St. Louis, the all-accessible playground would use pour-and-play rubber surfacing, accessible swings and slides, wide ramps and other features. Knoderer estimates the project would cost between $250,000 and $500,000.

Much like Natalie Blakemore, who founded Zachary's Playground so her disabled son Zachary could have a place to play, Jeff and Andrea Cunningham have been the driving force behind the idea in Cape Girardeau, Knoderer said. The Cunninghams' daughter, Melaina, died March 19 from complications of pneumonia.

Melaina, who was 3 years old when she died, had suffered with nemaline myopathy, a disease where the person has a low muscle tone. Andrea Cunningham said the playground would be a memorial for her daughter.

"I feel like she's guiding me," Andrea Cunningham said. "We're grieving but it gives me something to look forward to. The playground is going to be awesome and it will happen."

Andrea Cunningham said she hopes to raise the money by 2010.

"It's a big endeavour but it's needed," Andrea Cunningham said. "I hear a lot of people say that it will be a destination park. My hope is that it will spawn some interest in other communities to do the same thing."

Another presentation centered on a Cape Wine Walk, an event that would combine wine tasting, shopping in downtown Cape Girardeau and raising money for the Discovery Playhouse Children's Museum. Participants would sample wines from regional wineries at different businesses, which team member Jim Maxwell said would increase foot traffic for downtown merchants.

Cost would be $65 per ticket. If 310 people bought tickets, $20,000 could be raised for the Discovery Playhouse Children's Museum.

Maxwell participated in a similar event in Grants Pass, Ore., a town similar in population size to Cape Girardeau. Started 12 years ago, the event continues today.

"Those businesses said they had people who never had visited their stores before the event," Maxwell said. "It can happen here, but depends on if someone takes the ball and runs with it."

Another group proposed a downtown farmers market. Team member Janet Livingston said since a farmers market is already part of the Downtown Revitalization and Economic Assistance for Missouri, or DREAM Initiative, a plan that would revitalize downtown Cape Girardeau, it has a better chance of becoming reality.

Livingston said state and national grants would help fund the project, and area groups such as Common Ground would cooperate in the effort. She said music and cooking demonstrations by local chefs would be offered during each farmers market.

Another presentation involved placing a riverboat on land. Erin Wolfe and Matt Whitledge said six offices and a 4,000-square-foot banquet room would be available for use.

Possible locations include the Red Star District area north of Broadway or south of the Red House Interpretive Center building. Wolfe and Whitledge estimate the land where the boat would rest may cost $300,000, the boat $250,000 and remodeling the boat $1 million. Total revenue could be $5,250 each month.

The final group proposed placing a locator kiosk downtown. One side of the kiosk would include a map to direct visitors to various downtown landmarks while the other side would have a calendar of area events and advertisements.

The kiosk would cost $8,100 but would receive funding from Old Town Cape, the Cape Girardeau Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, donations from local businesses and ad space purchased on the kiosk.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628

Pertinent addresses:

1333 N. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO