The Oh MY Oakridge (OMO) initiative was created when a small subset of residents began discussing updating a playground near their homes. This conversation led to a broader discussion about all the greenspaces in the community, the age of all playgrounds and the lack of diversity for the range of demographics within Oakridge.

Through engagements with the City of Calgary and other communities, OMO became aware of Master Plan initiatives in other Calgary communities such as Creating Coventry and H2Spaces. It was determined that there would be significant value in building out a comprehensive neighbourhood strategy so that upgrades across the community would be complimentary, supportive of diverse needs, and strategic in fundraising.

The OMO team brought their initiative to the OCA Board who included it as part of a resident survey completed in 2021. The survey had 276 respondents where greenspaces and amenities that drive quality of life were identified as one of the top 3 priorities in the community.

The OMO Team has been partnering with Parks Foundation Calgary and fundraising for two projects: The Master Plan Project & the Oakridge Way Park Project.

Follow Oh MY Oakridge: Upgrading Our Community Greenspaces on Facebook for the most up-to-date information about our project and fundraising activities.

The objective of the Master Plan Project is to hire a landscape architecture firm to develop a cohesive design for the revitalization of Oakridge’s greenspaces following a series of community engagement sessions. This plan will include community input into project prioritization which the OCA can then take to develop a long-term implementation strategy. We aim to raise $80,000 for the Master Plan.

As community demographics continue to shift, the development of spaces to get to know neighbors and enhance community engagement will be increasingly important. The majority of the greenspaces in the neighborhood have not been updated since original neighborhood development in the 1970s or since play structures were put in by the City in the 1990s. As a result, they only target a narrow age range for children and largely go underutilized. With professional support to develop comprehensive community engagement strategies, the OCA will be able to reimagine how these spaces can be utilized and make our spaces more welcoming for children, families, seniors, single adults, couples, and teenagers and maximize opportunities for residents to engage and enjoy recreation activities together.

As the first upgrade to one of the neighborhood’s greenspaces, this project intends to replace the aging playground structures at the Oakridge Way Park with a new, natural-style playground equipment along with the installation of seating in the park area and pathway access from the sidewalk.

Due to the cost of playground equipment, landscaping, a pathway and seating, this has been planned as a multi-phase update. The first phase is building new playground structures, with the goal to be completed in 2024 (fundraising goal of $250,000 for the playground structure). The second phase intends to add a shade structure, increase the seating and, in collaboration with the City, improve accessibility into the park, with anticipated completion in 2026 (fundraising goal of $100,000).

Playground Vendor & Conceptual Design

A Request for Proposal round was facilitated by the Parks Foundation, and the OMO team reviewed submissions in June 2023, and ultimately selected Rockyview Play as the playground designer & builder.

Rockyview Play is an Alberta-based design + build team of play designers, landscape architects, engineers, and certified playground safety inspectors. Rockyview Play’s mission is to provide their clients with play-focused designs that offer an immersive, nature-based experience with designs that are built to encourage playful movement for all ages, inspire creativity and creative expression, and provide elements of fun, exploration, and learning.

The vision for the Oakridge way playground is to include graduated play elements which will open access to a variety of ages and skill levels, and to have pieces for sliding, climbing, swinging and hanging.

The OMO team received the greenlight for a 2024 build from the Parks Foundation and the City of Calgary and are now in the process of refining and finalizing the playground design with Rockyview play.

Playground conceptual design (subject to changes and final approval from the City)

You can donate directly through the Parks Foundation Calgary website by selecting our projects from the dropdown menu. Any and all amounts are appreciated and bring us closer to our goal!

If your employer uses Benevity to track and match employee donations, consider looking up our projects under the Parks Foundation Calgary projects list.

For those who would like their donations towards the Oakridge Way Playground Update to be recognized, donations under $500 will be recognized as Bronze donors in project communications. Donations $500 or greater will be recognized as Silver ($500-$999), Gold ($1,000-$4,999) or Platinum ($5,000+) donors and included in a modest park installation such as a group plaque.

If you would be interested in having your name(s) included in Project recognition:

1. In the “Additional Comments” section of the webform make note that you would like to share your contact information with the Project organizers to be included in the park recognition AND
2. Send a copy of your donation receipt with name(s) to include for recognition to: ohmyoakridge@gmail.com

Skate With Santa

Coming to the Oakridge Community Centre Arena in December 2024!

Stay Tuned For More Information.

Year-Long Bottle Drive:

You can contribute to our year-long bottle drive by arranging to have your bottles picked up by Skip The Depot.

All money donated this year will go directly to the playground fund. You stay at home, skip the depot picks up your bags, and the money gets transferred to Oh My Oakridge.

We are frequently looking for volunteers to help us with our various fundraising events & activities. For more information, please email us at ohmyoakridge@gmail.com to see what might be coming up.

Like with donations, many employers will match volunteer hours with donation values, so consider logging your volunteer hours through Benevity or other programs.