THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412090297
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATRICIA HUANG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
This holiday season, you don't have to get all dressed up and have nowhere to go.
There's no need for new clothes if you buy a ticket to Fun Forest's Holiday ``Spirit'' Ball. In fact, there's no ball.
Tickets cost $50 to $100 to the non-ball, which ticket-holders are invited to attend ``in spirit and not in body.'' Proceeds will help the Fun Forest playground, which is scheduled to be built by thousands of volunteers next May.
``No tux to rent, no sitter expense. Just think of the money you're saving!'' the invitation reads. ``No small talk to make, no hors d'oeuvres to partake. Just think of the fun you're not missing.''
Fun Forest's non-ball is one of several fund-raisers scheduled to promote the playground and to attract volunteers and their dollars.
The two-acre fun park will feature a Chesapeake history wall, a story circle, bird watching areas and a stage for musicals and impromptu plays. A large, strategically placed pavilion will provide parents with a central viewing area, and 20 types of trees will enhance the picnic grounds next to a fen-ced park. Fun Forest also is working with the national philanthropic organization PUSH to accommodate the park for children with special needs. Fun Forest will be located behind the existing playground at Chesapeake City Park.
So far, about $80,000 has been raised for Fun Forest, according to Haddad. Most of it has come from a single memorial donation.
Designed by New York-based architects Leathers and Associates, the park will utilize every square foot, said Mary Haddad, park project coordinator.
Civic leagues will be encouraged to adopt a garden in the park and maintain it with flowers and a theme.
Officials say they will be selling handprint tiles for residents who want to have their handprint glazed on a tile and placed in walls in the park. Fifteen hundred tiles will be sold for $25 each to take up 640 square feet of the park.
Picnic tables also can be engraved with the names of donors and volunteers. Businesses, including Cavalier Ford, Travel Network, Continental airline and Proffitt's, have vowed to sponsor the park. ILLUSTRATION: WANT TO HELP?
Fun Forest will be built by volunteers in May 1995 behind the
existing playground at Chesapeake City Park. For information on how
to make donations of time and money to the project, call 552-2020.
by CNB