Mississippi Mills residents are getting closer to having a playground where kids of all abilities can play together. At a Mississippi Mills Council meeting on May 26, 2026, the Almonte Civitan Club shared that it has raised $414,000 for an accessible community playground on Almonte Street. That’s 46 percent of the $900,000 needed to build it.
Mississippi Mills heard from Brenda Fairbairn, the club’s fundraising chair, and Margaret Miller, a local fundraising consultant helping with the campaign. The playground will sit next to the Almonte Civitan Community Hall at 500 Almonte Street and include ramps all the way to the top, equipment designed for mobility devices, rubber pads for wheelchair mobility, activity panels for kids on the autism spectrum, transfer stations, and a walking track without barriers for seniors and others with mobility challenges.
The club envisions this as a regionally accessed park. The closest fully accessible playground is a four-hour drive away, so this project would draw families from far beyond Mississippi Mills.
The campaign is now shifting into its next stage, with grant applications, community fundraisers, and partnerships with local businesses. The Almonte Civitan Club has been active in Mississippi Mills since 1972, focusing on helping people with physical and intellectual disabilities. Ron Terpstra, a 44-year club member and chair of the playground project, led the club’s research into accessible designs after visiting other playgrounds and working with equipment companies like Little Tykes Commercial and Playground Planners.
Residents who want to support the project can contact the club through its website at www.almontecivitan.com/playground or by emailing [email protected]. Community donations, including $1,000 from the Almonte Amateur Radio Club and $500 from the Almonte Junior Civitans, have already helped push the total past the halfway mark.
