By Adam Donnelly

Cache Creek Elementary gets new playground thanks to BCAA

Oct 15, 2018 | 3:14 PM

CACHE CREEK — In June, it was announced Cache Creek Elementary was one of three winners of the BCAA Play Here contest, an annual competition in which three communities win grants from the organization to help revitalize play spaces. On Friday more than 30 BCAA employees descended on the village to begin construction on the new playground, while on Saturday members of the Cache Creek community took up the build, to help complete the project.

There’s an old saying: “many hands make light work”. Try telling that to the full complement of Cache Creek residents who were helping erect the new playground at the school on Saturday morning.

“We’re kind of in the riverbed area, so they’re hitting really monstrous rocks,” Cache Creek Elementary Principal Brooke Haller explained. “They had our holes dug and then [they] dried out and kind of crumbled. [Saturday] they were digging again. We have a lot of volunteers doing some pretty hard labour.”

Volunteers spent Saturday morning re-excavating the holes that had been dug for the playgrounds footings before concrete could be poured. Load after load of rocky soil was taken off of the playground and dumped to one side of the build, all under the watchful eye of Skylar Hook – the lone student representative on the construction crew.

CFJC Today asked her how she felt representing the student body during construction: “I like it.” she replied. “Plus then I get to tell my brother I worked on it and he didn’t get to.”

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After rigorous inspection, supervision, and even some preliminary testing of the new playground. Hook gave it her stamp of approval — despite some potential safety concerns.

“It was a little scary going up because, well, there wasn’t anything under you and I was scared to go on that thing that was like… [makes a serpentine gesture with her hand],” Hook said of climbing onto the unfinished playground. “At least it has a railing.”

Despite the difficult digging, the construction drew dozens to the schoolyard to help make sure the playground would be ready for the kids come Sunday Morning. For Principal Haller, the build was an opportunity for residents to come together for something positive, after a tough few years for the small community.

“I think our community is really used to coming together,” Haller said. “Not always for the best of reasons. There have been a lot of natural disasters and community crisis times where they’ve come together, so it’s really awesome to see them come together for something good that we can all get behind and get excited about. It’s really refreshing given the few years Cache Creek has had.”

As for winning BCAA’s Play Here Contest, Hook has some advice for other communities who may want to test their mettle in the annual contest.

“Make sure to work hard,” she said. “It’s not easy… not easy. But we did it. I like our playground.”