The summer may be drawing to a close, but the fun is just beginning at Crosby Park.

This weekend, the fully-accessible park celebrates its reopening in grand style with a family fun day.

On Saturday afternoon, an official grand opening includes entertainment and events including a free barbecue lunch.

Dan the Music Man performs and the Richmond Hill Fire Department and York Regional Police canine unit will be on hand.

Daring visitors can take a ride in Re/Max’s hot air balloon (weather permitting).

The park re-opened this summer after extensive renovations making it fully-accessible. New features at the park include:

• Extra accessible parking lots

• A waterplay area into which wheelchairs can be taken.

• Gently-sloping ramps and paths for wheelchairs. 

• Gardens are designed to attract butterflies and stimulate sight and smell, with plants like citronella.

•Swing sets have bucket seats with straps  and the playground treehouse has wide ramps and double-slides.

“There’s nothing like it in Canada,” said Richmond hill Mobility Accessibility Foundation chairperson Barry Munro after touring the park earlier this summer.

Beyond children in wheelchairs, the park is designed to accommodate parents with accessibility issues, seniors, and people with autism and other special needs.

The town also received an $85,000 grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for an innovative system which uses Centennial Pool’s filtration system to recycle water from the splash pad area.

It uses 10 per cent of the water used by a traditionally designed facility and discharges 90 per cent less into the  sewer system.

Fundraising for the park totalled more than $430,000, beating targets by more than $100,000.

The fun lasts from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine, at the park (corner of Newkirk Road and Crosby Avenue). An official ceremony takes place at 1 p.m.

You can learn more about the park at richmondhill.ca/crosbypark