Discovery Way at the Point will add nature-based play and exploration opportunities for area children. During Build Week, Tuesday to Friday, dozens of volunteers will join Revitalize Dunkirk members each day to create music- and play-themed activity areas along the wooded trail under the direction of staff from nonprofit playspace specialist company KABOOM!

During sessions in March led by KABOOM! staff, area children and adults contributed ideas and preferences for the soon-to-be-completed play and activity areas. They were inspired by similar areas at Letchworth State Park’s Autism Nature Trail.

For the upcoming construction days, between 20 and 60 volunteers are needed each day for a variety of tasks, both skilled and unskilled. Some will serve breakfast and lunch, provided for everyone on-site, or staff stations for volunteer check-in and tool check-out. Others will work alongside paid professional equipment installers to place footings and assemble manufactured structures, or use power tools to shape donated logs for wood chip containment enclosures, seating, or play structures.

Strong backs will be needed for moving wheelbarrows full of wood chips or engineered wood fiber, used to line play areas or to help plant native shrubs. A few specialty jobs required by KABOOM! are CPR-trained first aid providers and photographers to document the build.

Raccoon prints along Discovery Way at the Point.

Those interested in volunteering for one or more Build Days must register and sign a liability waiver on KABOOM!’s on-line platform at https://bit.ly/4d4Ujv7. If experiencing difficulty with this process, volunteers may register on-site before beginning work on their chosen day(s). Note: while the site does not provide an option to sign up for less than a full day (8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.), volunteers may do so. Revitalize Dunkirk also recommends contacting Revitalize Dunkirk Trail Committee Chair Marybeth Muldowney (marybethmuldowney@gmail.com) to let her know the days and hours you wish to volunteer.

Muldowney, joined by Jim Enser, spoke about the trail project at the most recent Dunkirk Common Council meeting. She mentioned a Ralph C. Wilson Foundation grant which backs KABOOM!s work.

“Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are the big days” for work next week, she said. “If you can’t spend the day, that’s fine. Come and say hello, see how the progress is moving. A lot of neat things will be happening.”

She added that a ribbon cutting for the trail will be held at the trailhead Friday at 3 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

The trail itself recently got an eight-foot-wide path of compacted road millings leading into it. The path will facilitate installation of play equipment and other amenities, as well as provide drier, safer year-round access for trail users.

This distinctive-looking squirrel was spotted munching on breakfast near Discovery Way at the Point.

Spanning the uneven and often water-logged expanse between the parking lot by the Brooks Pavilion and the trail entrance in the nearby woods, the path was contracted and paid for by Revitalize Dunkirk with grants from the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation and donations from local organizations and individuals, while the city provided the road millings to create its hard-packed surface.

It’s worth noting, so trail users can prepare, that much of the section further back in the woods is very muddy at this time.

Discovery Way at the Point is a collaboration between Revitalize Dunkirk, the City of Dunkirk, the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation, Ralph C. Wilson Foundation, and KABOOM! In addition, many area businesses, organizations, and individuals are supporting the project through loaned equipment and in-kind or cash donations.

To learn more about Discovery Way at the Point, visit Revitalize Dunkirk’s Facebook or website: revitalizedunkirk.com. A map, proposed site plans, and a history of the project can be found by clicking on “Point Gratiot Trail” in the drop down menu under “What We Do.”

A wildlife watcher strolls along Discovery Way at the Point.