Our new sunshelter in Allison Park

Well construction has resumed again in our park, and the sunshelter is coming along nicely.

All construction will be done and ready for you to enjoy with your children and friends for next year!

http://www.allisonpark.org/

100th blog

Wow, 100 blogs here already!!!

Thanks for stopping by and reading them!!

www.allisonpark.org

Sidewalks on Rymal Road

The installation of sidewalks on Rymal Road ( Hwy 53 for us old timers), is being completed to make ready for the new expanded road.

There is a special treat for you all with the sidewalk, when it is completed go take a walk on it and see if you can figure it out!

This will no doubt make it easier and safer for you and the kids to get to the new YMCA.

The first one with the right answer gets an Allison Park T-Shirt:)

www.allisonpark.org

Sun Shelter in Allison Park

The sun shelter is still being built, we are just waiting for it to be delivered.

It is coming from the States and should be here within 2 weeks.

It will then be completed!

http://www.allisonpark.org

Allison Park Gets its long awaited advanced green light

It all started a couple years back, I noticed people making u-turns on Upper Wellington by Sedona Crt.

I thought really nothing of it, heck people get lost I thought.

But, I kept seeing it, and one time I saw 4 cars doing it all at one time!

I talked to a few neighbours and they confirmed it has been happening for years, turns out people where getting tired of waiting for the light to turn left on Upper Wellington so they would come and use our street instead to head right through and not have to wait.

This just added to the ongoing traffic situation that we have here and what was getting worse.

If you remember back years ago I did a traffic survey and found that something like 80% of the traffic on Jacqueline was using us as a through street from other surveys!

This then led to the elimination of the left turn signs on Rymal and that helped out.

Now with all the new surveys we are starting to get a lot more traffic once again.

I asked Councilor Duvall if he could talk to the traffic department and see what we could do about a advance green light that would hopefully eliminate this problem.

The new light was just installed, they are putting in new sensors and it should be operational soon.

Many thanks to Councilor Scott Duvall for getting this done!

http://www.allisonpark.org/

Allison Park gets it long awaited sun shelter

Fellow residents of Allison Park!

Today was the start of our long awaited sunshelter!!

This will take a month to complete if all goes well and at the same time hopefully the new parts I ordered in for the splashpad will arrive as well:)

There have been a few changes in the master plan, I will share some pictures with you later!

Bye for now

Chris Ecklund

http://www.allisonpark.org

New Trees for Allison Park

Good news and Bad news.

The 4 broken trees have been replaced.

Bad news is as many of you have noticed and complained about is that the hired contractors from the City also placed several new trees right smack dab in the only remaining green space for the kids to play in, not to mention where the gazeebo is going.

Not to worry, I will see what we can do about this.

http://www.allisonpark.org

Allison Park Splashpad is now open

There is good news and bad news.

Good news is that the splashpad is open.

Bad news is that it needs some major repairs.

Hopefully it will be okay for the rest of the weekend, today I was talking with Chris Davies Playground Supervisor who has been working around the clock to get the pad fixed, many thanks to Chris who was even at our park at midnight on Friday trying to get it fixed for us to use this holiday weekend.

What is even more impressive is that Chris is on holidays right now but he has taken the time out of his plans to get our pad open, thanks Chris your dedication and efforts are truly appreciated by myself and all the children in our neighbourhood!

http://www.allisonpark.org/

Splash Pad is broken

We have a few items that broke over the winter, so new parts are being ordered.

Hopefully it will be good to go for July 1st long weekend:)

http://www.allisonpark.org

Yard Sale for the cure is this weekend

The signs are up the flyers are out, all we need now is you!

My annual Yard Sale for The Cure is this weekend, so sign up and lets raise some money for Breast Cancer research!!

My little Helpers in Allison Park

Yesterday I started to clean up the park, and I wanted to extend a big thank you to my little helpers in the park that helped me yesterday.

I wish I could remember their names, but they where a great help, together we collected 2 bags of garbage accumulated from over the winter!

The park survived the winter okay, I am having some City crews come in and repair some sod damage, and to remove and replace some benches also that where broken.

The graffiti on the park equipment also will be removed shortly.

All in all a great day yesterday, get out and enjoy this great weather we are having, it will be in the 60's and even 70's this week!

http://www.allisonpark.org

Mail Box Graffiti

Almost every mailbox in the city seems to have some sort of graffiti on it, and we have a few mailboxes also that got tagged.

I have acquired a cleaner that the City uses with great success, its called " Goof Off" and I will be attempting to clean the boxes in a few days from now.

http://www.allisonpark.org

Allison Park Spring Cleaning Begins

Its time to head outside folks and enjoy this great weather!

Its also time to head out and start to clean up!

Its amazing the garbage that collects over the winter, so check around your house, and even your sidewalk and portion of the street in front of your house, every little bit helps!

In the coming week the snow will be all gone so we will be able to do a large scale cleaning of the park and fence lines.

http://www.allisonpark.org

Allison Parks Yard Sale For The Cure

On May 31 2008 from 8 a.m. till 12 Noon., I will be hosting our 2nd Annual Yard Sale for the Cure to raise money for Breast Cancer research in Allison Park.

Last year we had a small but great start and I am pleased to support this great cause once again.

Details to follow in due course, but to learn more visit Rachels website at

http://www.yardsaleforthecure.com/

Spring Cleaning in Allison Park

Usually we dont have snow on the ground for Easter Egg hunt and I have my annual spring clean up of the park before the Easter Egg hunt and clean up all the dog droppings before the children get into the park.

This year obviuosly we could not do that, so I will be having our annual spring cleaning of the park in a week or so, please keep an eye out here and on the mail boxes for a flyer announcing the same.

It only takes an hour, and then the park will be spic and span for the little ones.

Many thanks for any volunteers that would like to help out:)

http://www.allisonpark.org

Allison Park Easter Egg Hunt a HUGE Success

Just a hare over 20,000 chocolate Easter Eggs, where collected in 5 minutes by an estimated 3-500 children yesterday at my local park Allison Park.It was a bright and sunny day, chilly and windy, but that did not deter people from coming out and enjoying the festivities.Lots of Hamiltonians attended the event from all over the City, welcome to Allison Park!It was definetly a challenge this year, hopefully the weather will be better for next year and we can get back to the usual activities that I have.Councilor Duval had a previous committment and sent his regrets, but many thanks for Councilor Whitehead and family for coming out.Many thanks to my longtime right hand man in the neighbourhood Paul, whom has worked behind the scenes and helped me make these and other events I host in the park great success's that they are, Paul has never said no to me and for the last 9 years has always been there to help me out, many thanks Paul!And also many thanks to my driver Dave, whom put a lot of hours into getting the park ready and distributing the eggs.Many thanks to all of you for coming out, have a great Easter weekend, enjoy the family drive safe and give thanks!

http://www.allisonpark.org

Final Preparations for my Easter Egg Hunt

Well we surveyed the park today, it will be a slippery and wet hunt tomorrow, so please make sure the little ones have their rubber boots on and are dressed warmly.The good thing is that it will be a nice sunny day!We shoveled some more snow off the paths, broke up a lot of ice, and dumped 2 large bags of salt down, and will pour a couple more tomorrow also.See you in the morning!

http://www.allisonpark.org

Looking for a Easter Egg Hunt in Hamilton?

If you are looking for a Easter Egg Hunt in Hamilton, then bring the little ones out to Allison Park tomorrow, at 10 a.m. SHARP.

Allison Park is located at the end of Upper Wellington, just over Rymal Road ( Hwy 53), the street curves around and the park is right there.

I have just a hare ( all pun intended) over 20,000 chocolate eggs for the kiddies, its a free event and all are welcome:)

Hop to see you are there tomorrow!!

Hop to it!

Chris ( Easter Bunny ) Ecklund

http://www.allisonpark.org

Hamilton's Largest Easter Egg Hunt

This Saturday March 22 2008 at 10:00 a.m., Chris Ecklund will be hosting his annual Easter Egg Hunt in Allison Park.

This year he will help the Easter Bunny distribute just over 20,000 chocolate Easter eggs for the little ones to find.

The weather will be good, so bring the little ones out, its free of charge as usual!

http://www.allisonpark.org

Snow Removal in Allison Park

Well the snow is gone, 1 snowblower died along the way, but we should be good to go for my annual Allison Park Easter Egg Hunt Saturday March 22 2008 at 10:00 a.m.



The City came by with their BIG blower ( Thank-you) and removed the snow around the park so we will now have room for lots of cars to park.



Their was at least 1-2 feet of snow removed in the park, and now with the warm temps coming this should melt away the base snow and ice and expose the grass for the Easter Bunny.



All is a go for next weekend!



http://www.allisonpark.org/

The Clean Up Begins in Allison Park

Well the HUGE City snowblower came by and cleaned up around the park, which is great, we should have lots of room for parking now, and today I have 2 snowblowers going in the park to remove as much snow as possible and get the paths cleared, and hopefully remove a foot of snow to get down as close as possible to the grass.

With the warmup now here, hopefully that will melt the base ice once exposed so the Easter Bunny can deposit her eggs for the little ones.

Rumour has it the easter Bunny will be bringing over 20,000 chocolate eggs this year.....

http://www.allisonpark.org

Allison Park Easter Egg Hunt 2008

Well,........with Easter being 3 weeks earlier this year, and all this snow, we are going to have a tough time on our hands this year if I am going to pull this off or not.

Before we got all this snow I walked the park and saw we had 3 inches of solid ice over the grass.

Now we have 4 feet of snow.

We have a big melt down coming starting today, cross your fingers that it gets rid of a lot of the snow.

What I will do is bring in a snow removing crew and get rid of as much snow as possible in the park, to expose all the base ice, and then hopefully with the warmer temps, it will melt the base ice away.

The safety of our children is very important, not to mention, how do they expect to see a tiny egg in 4 feet of snow!!!

Ah, challenges I like!

So for those around the park, if you hear a lot of equipment in the next few days, this is what I will be doing.

As long as we can have some exposed grass, then we should be okay!

Bye for now!

Chris ( Easter Bunny ) Ecklund

http://www.allisonpark.org

Our sunshelter in Allison Park

I just got a call from good friend Councilor Scott Duvall tonight, whom had some good news to report.

1. Our sunshelter has been put out to tender, and the process they are hoping will be completed soon and construction started and finished by the end of June this year.

2. The issue surrounding the paths to the shelter has also be rectified somewhat.

Some background here, at first we where going to get 2-3 paths from Piano and Meadowpoint. This though created a problem in that it would have taken away almost the last piece of grass area for the kids to play football and soccer on. My worry was that a ashphalt path would become a safety hazard when the kids where playing. After talking with City Officials they said nothing could be done as the paths where needed for access for people with disabilities. This to be sounded like pure nonsense as we already had several entrances to the park, and more being planned. My argument fell on deaf ears, so further discussions ensued. After talking with disability experts and others, Scott informed me today that a resolution has been found and that most of the grass area will remain intact for the children to play on. The paths have been re-aligned throughout the park which will still allow easy access for all.

Many thanks for Councilor Scott Duvall for seeing this matter through to the drawing stage that we are currently at.

http://www.allisonpark.org

Allison Park Christmas Light Decorating Contest Winners

This years winners in my annual house decorating and Christmas light contest are finally in!

This year attention was also paid to the inside of the houses as well, as more people are starting to decorate their windows etc...

The prizes are gift certificates to Kelsey's, purchased by myself.


1st Prize 54 Jacqueline Blvd $ 100.00
2nd Prize 142 Jacqueline Blvd $ 75.00
3rd Prize 35 Kettlepoint $ 50.00
4th Prize 78 Piano $ 25.00
5th Prize 38 Sedona $ 10.00

Many thanks to everybody who went out of their way to decorate this year, it all makes our neighbourhood a brighter and happier place to be during the holidays !!


http://www.allisonpark.org

Garbage Clean up in Allison Park

Yuk....

With the big melt down we had last week, I thought it was a good time for me to head out and play garbage man again, this time I had some help with my driver whom volunteered his time to come help out also.

We did something different this time around, we got some of those clear plastic bags and when we picked up the garbage we sorted everything out and put it in seperate bags to recycle.

Yes it took triple the time, but what the heck we all need to do our part dont we?

It was windy and cold, but we got it done, and even found a surprise on the ground, no not dog poop, but we did find an incredible amount of that also, but we found a dead _at.

You can figure that one out, thats not good, thats mean they are here in our area.....

15 bags later we where done, and luckily the week following all of it was picked up at my house.

http://www.allisonpark.org/

Snap Hamilton Covers Our Christmas Party

Good friend Kevin Foster the owner of Snap Hamilton came by and took some great pictures of our annual Christmas Party, which by the looks of the smiles on the childrens faces was a huge success!!

Follow this link to see all the pictures
http://www.snaphamiltonmountain.com/display/26805/289/