Want to adopt a Lexington park? Here’s how you can do it.

Gainesway Park playground on Wednesday unveiled a $400,000 overhaul and a new sponsorship program that allows residents to adopt Lexington parks.

At a ceremony Wednesday, thanks to a combination of public funding and private donations from groups including Employment Solutions and Ohio Capital Corporation, the city officially opened the new playground behind the Tates Creek Community Center off of Central Parkway.

The new playground, with multiple climbing play structures, new swings and teeter-totters, replaces a more than 20-year playground.

Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilman Fred Brown, who has served multiple stints on the council over the past 30 years, secured money for the original playground in 1999. Brown left office by the time the playground was built in the early 2000s.

That playground was heavily used by hundreds of kids in the area every year and had slowly deteriorated, Brown said.

Brown spearheaded raising the $400,000 from multiple sources to make the new playground a reality. Brown is not running for re-election this year. This is his last year in office.

“I’ll try not to tear up because this is really something special,” Brown said Wednesday after thanking multiple groups for making the new playground a reality prior to the official ribbon-cutting.

“It is my hope Gainesway continues to serve our neighbors for generations to come,” Brown said.

Gainesway’s playground rebirth also comes with additional opportunities thanks to a new program.

From trash pick up to yoga

Also on Wednesday, the city unveiled its Adopt-A-Park program thanks to the work of Leadership Lexington, a 12-month Commerce Lexington program for emerging business and civic leaders.

The Leadership Lexington class developed new policies and procedures so other groups — churches, nonprofits or businesses — can also adopt local parks.

Leadership Lexington classes typically pick a community-facing project each year designed to make a lasting impact.

Mayor Linda Gorton said the Adopt-A-Park program will allow groups to enhance a local park through clean-up and beautification efforts, additional programming or expanding opportunities in one of the city’s 100 parks.

“This is a big deal,” Gorton said at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting.

As part of its sponsorship of Gainesway Park, Leadership Lexington will add additional signs at Gainesway playground that allow communication through pictures for early learners or those who are speech challenged.

Kevin Young, of the Leadership Lexington 2024 class, said the group wanted a way to expand the city’s parks and make it easier for groups to be involved in the park system.

“Adopt-a-Park program creates an opportunity for businesses, nonprofits and community members to take an active role in the parks system through stewardship and commitment,” Young said. “The program ranges from everything from trash pick up in the park, to yoga in the park, to adding a butterfly or vegetable garden.”

For more information on how to adopt a park, visit lexingtonky.gov/adoptapark.

The Adopt-A-Park program is separate from a ballot initiative driven by Parks Sustainable Funding, a newly formed nonprofit, to generate a separate tax for capital projects in the parks.

On Nov. 5, Fayette County voters will decide if they want to pay an additional but separate property tax to generate approximately $8 million annually for parks. If the ballot initiative passes, that money can be used for new playground equipment, sports fields, bathrooms and other capital improvements.

The tax would be 2.25 cents per $100 of taxable property. For a typical homeowner that’s roughly $56 dollars a year.

The Adopt-A-Park program is geared to help generate more activity and programming in the parks, park officials said. The ballot initiative is to generate money for improvements.