Amanda Casey

If you’re heading out to one of the festivities at Hardesty Park this weekend, you may notice some things are different.

Many remember the way summer started with Thunderstorm Watch and Tornado Watch, one after the other after the other. One such storm resulted in strong winds which brought down several extremely large tree branches onto the playground of Hardesty Park below, leaving it in ruins.

While some of the playground remains in tact many agree that it’s just not much fun as it stands, including camp counselors who did not have enough time to reschedule their planned play-date to the park. “I thought it was sad. We couldn’t go on the bridge to get across. And we couldn’t play on the big playground” said Marley, 5, of Akron, after seeing the damage.

However there is hope for the future of the playground. There are plans for a rebuild in the near future, with a more complete time-line being made available in the next couple of weeks, says Akron Recreation Manager, Greg Kalail.

“We are going to replace it. We’re trying to work with the company that originally installed it to see what we can do to get this done in a timely fashion.”

While this does not include having it up and running for The Taste of Akron or Art in the Park, that should not deter you from the events themselves. The weekly Monday concerts will also continue as planned. You can get a complete list of those events by visiting the following website: akronperforms.com