Renovations underway at library for Co-op-funded play space

By MO CRANKER on October 22, 2019.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker

The Medicine Hat Public Library is moving ahead with renovations to its kids’ library and hopes to have things wrapped up early next year.

The public library announced earlier this year that it had received more than $74,000 from South Country Co-op to create a free play space for children in the community – renovations began Monday and will continue for a few months.

“We just want to say thank you to Co-op for funding this,” said MHPL head of youth services Carol Ann Cross-Roen. “Construction is under way and we’re starting off by walling the area off where the play space will be.

“This is going to be a really popular attraction for the community.”

The play space will consist of a few different attractions, including a large play structure, blackboards, seating, a play house and other activities for kids to take part in.

“We have a lot going on in the play area as well in the areas around it,” said Cross-Roen. “We’ll have a number of play and learning materials throughout the childrens’ library.

“We know the play space is going to cause a lot of noise so we decided to put the wall up around it to keep that noise level down a bit.”

There is not a hard timeline for the construction to finish, but the public library is hoping to hold a grand opening early in 2020. Cross-Roen says this will be an important place for kids in the community to play and learn.

“We wanted to make something in the library that would be play-based for children that would also be free and accessible to the community,” she said. “We felt like this is something that families in Medicine Hat needed.”

More information can be found on the MHPL website.

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