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Atlanta Park District celebrates $25,000 grant

with a picnic in the park -- album

[Click on photos below to enlarge.]

[June 23, 2012] Send a link to a friend

Friday a large group gathered in the pavilion at the Atlanta Park to celebrate receiving a $25,000 grant from State Farm Insurance in Bloomington.

The grant was the result of a Facebook voting campaign sponsored by State Farm.

The Atlanta Park District collected 18,000 votes and came in 22nd in the top 40 who received grants.

Pictures by Nila Smith

The park district plans to use the funds to purchase some new playground equipment, do some repairs to the barn at the park and some maintenance on the existing equipment.

Leigh Ann Barr (standing, center) is an Atlanta resident and an employee of State Farm Corporate. She nominated the Atlanta Park District for the contest.

Jim Slaven, left, and local State Farm agent Chris Coyne chat before the check presentation. Slaven is from the public affairs department at State Farm.

Children take a ride on the slide at the park.

The park district repaints all the playground equipment every few years. Park caretaker Debbie Siltman said some of the equipment may get a facelift, and some of it may go away.

Park district board president Michael Schmidt said one of the nice things about newer equipment is that much of it is made of hard plastic. There will be less need for maintenance such as painting.

Schmidt also noted that many of the items currently in the park are still available in the new hard plastic.

State Farm agent Chris Coyne has offices in Atlanta and Lincoln. Friday he spoke to the audience about the award and how it came about, then assisted Barr in drawing for a wide variety of door prizes donated by area merchants as well as by Coyne and the Rick Hamm State Farm Agency.

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