About 80 volunteers turn out to build Sussex Borough’s new playground

About 80 volunteers rolled up their sleeves on Oct. 16 to build a new playground for Sussex Borough.

The long-anticipated playground has finally arrived at the new Thomas J. Dunn Park, on the site of the former Boggs Field.

Among the volunteers who turned out were borough council president Mario Poggi, Mayor Edward Meyer, councilman Frank Dykstra, business administrator Antoinette Smith, and the borough’s recreation committee. Some even came from out of town.

They moved gravel and mulch and assembled equipment. Driscoll Foods donated breakfast and lunches. Poggi said it was a “great day.”

“It was fun,” Poggi said. “It was very community building, and the playground’s open, and people are using it.”

Poggi predicts the playground will get less use as fall turns to winter, with activity to pick back up in the spring.

A pile of mulch was left at the field. He said the builders estimate the mulch spread throughout the playground will settle by about 30 percent and require another layer.

“So, we’ll have the mulch available right there just to backfill that in to make it back level, where it should be, and then things will normalize,” Poggi said.

The playground was donated by Alexandra’s Community Build Playgrounds. This first phase is for children ages 5 to 12.

The borough council initially looked to put the playground in Brookside Park, then explored a property on Lake Shore Drive, before finally deciding on Boggs Field.

There’s still some more work to do. The fountain isn’t already installed because the contractor was hit by Covid-19, but is expected in the next several weeks. The flagpole has already been installed.

The park’s two picnic tables were donated by the Wallkill Valley Rotary Club.

“I’m really happy that we did it, and thank you to everyone who finally came over and helped us out and helped me out to finally get this done,” Poggi said. “I appreciate all of you on the council and the mayor for helping get this done.”