On Schedule: Belmont's Joey's Park Readies for Monday's Finale

As the first crew of volunteer builders were heading off to a well-earned lunch on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 13, Ellen Schreiber looks over the work in progress known as the new Joey's Park.

Long posts that make up the foundation of the play structure rise above a floor of wood mulch, the first of the playground equipment is now in place, slides are being prepped to be installed and the pyramid-style tops to the play structure are only waiting for a crane to put them into place. 

"We're in heaven," said Schreiber, a co-chair of the Friends of Joey's Park which has been the leading force behind building a new play area on the site of the former playground that was built 24 years earlier. 

While to the uninformed eye, the work site adjacent to the Winn Brook Elementary School, appears to be a bit chaotic but Schreiber said the project is "on schedule" for its official opening to take place at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 14.

Schreiber said the work could have only been accomplished by the volunteers who have been taking part in the "community build" in the past four days.

"We're well over 1,000 volunteers. They are the real power behind the job," said Schreiber, noting that former graduates from Malden Catholic came to work as a group, missionaries from the Church of Latter Day Saints, the entire junior class from nearby Belmont Hill and companies and students from Belmont High School. 

"They now have a stake in this project and that's what we want all residents to have with Joey's Park," said Schreiber, calling the crew captains – those who are leading each group of between two to a dozen volunteers – "are the real heroes." 

And residents and others can still come by to work shifts today, Sunday, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and all day Monday, Oct. 14. 

Schreiber said on Monday, the first two hours – from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. – will be family time at the site where parents and children will have appropriate projects. Then the final six hours, until 4 p.m., will be a final "push" to finish the major segments of the playground. 

"We believe that (Monday) will be a celebration of our community as well as completing the new Joey's Park," said Schreiber.