A new outdoor experience, Discovery Way at the Point, is coming soon to Dunkirk’s Point Gratiot Park.

Revitalize Dunkirk, Inc., is excited to announce confirmation of an award from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation (RWJF) to Kaboom!, a play space specialist company, to help fund the addition of two child-friendly activity areas alongside the park’s wooded trail.

Lex Lesley, project leader from Kaboom!, will share plans and various ways to get involved at a kickoff Design Day meeting hosted by Revitalize Dunkirk on Wednesday from 4-5:30 p.m., at the SUNY Fredonia Center for Innovation & Economic Development, 214 Central Ave., Dunkirk. All interested community members are invited to attend.

Earlier in the day, Lesley will walk the trail with invited community partners, checking out site conditions and discussing ideas for the proposed “activity zones.” Later that day she will lead a discussion with approximately 28 Dunkirk Intermediate School students, brainstorming what they would like to see on the Discovery Way play trail.

The project began three years ago when Mary Beth Muldowney and Laura Geraci, went to an Economic Development Committee meeting at City Hall and presented their vision for Pt. Gratiot’s existing, rudimentary trail.

Besides widening the overgrown path and improving its often muddy and uneven surface for all users — mostly birders and the high school cross country team — the pair proposed creating interactive, sensory exploration and play areas inspired by those at the Autism Nature Trail (ANT) at Letchworth State Park.

City officials advised them to approach Revitalize Dunkirk, Inc., to help further their plans. Over the past two years, in preparation for creating these activity areas, Revitalize Dunkirk has hired local companies Woodbury Pietro Surveying, Trail Construction Associates, and Kravitz Tree Service to survey property lines in the surrounding woods, widen the trail, and remove dead ash trees that posed a threat to trail users.

DPW employees have assisted by hauling away brush cleared by volunteers and providing wood chips from the dead ash trees to improve the trail surface.

With the awarding of the RWJF grant, and the collaboration with Kaboom! and other community partners, a fun, new accessible experience for both children and adults at Point Gratiot Park is much closer to completion.

Revitalize Dunkirk, Inc., is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit community improvement organization.