The City of Fort Valley Unveils a New Playground

FORT VALLEY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A potentially dangerous plot of land gets a makeover and now kids in Fort Valley will be able to play after the city spent years getting it cleaned.

For over 30 years, soil where the current park sits was contaminated with arsenic from a pesticide company.

The city of Fort Valley has made sure the area is cleaned and safe and unveiled the brand new playground at Festival Park on Thursday.

Kids from the Boys and Girls Club of Peach County came in by the bus load with the look of excitement in their eyes.

With the help of Fort Valley’s city council and public works department, Mayor John Stumbo says the playground created.

“What I’m trying to do is to make lemonade out of lemons, we could not afford to leave this site contaminated in the middle of our city, we had to clean it up,” Stumbo says.

Stumbo says the play area has been a long time dream for him. Money from a trust fund was left to the city to cover the more than $50,000 cost.

He says a park like this one reminds him a lot of his childhood and he hopes it will create great memories for these kids.