NAHANT — A small crowd gathered along Nahant Road at noon Tuesday to watch town officials — and 4-year-old Amelia Carrasco — cut a ceremonial ribbon to open the completely renovated Little Nahant Playground.
Since Town Meeting first approved the renovations in 2021, Nahant has allocated $12,000, matched by state Community Preservation Act funding for a combined total of $24,000, toward the playground’s new benches, picnic tables, play equipment, and surfacing. Additionally, the town received $10,000 in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds after the March 2018 storm severely damaged the playground.
In a speech in front of the playground, Town Administrator Tony Barletta said when he first assumed his position in 2018, the playground had little more than a “completely rusted” awning structure in the corner.
“It was a drop-the-hammer decision and I said ‘I’ve got to pull this thing out of here, somebody’s going to get hurt.’ So the DPW came down, and then we applied for the Community Preservation Committee money to rebuild this,” Barletta said.
The new play structures, consisting of a shipwreck-themed climbing toy and a large blue whale, received a lot of public attention on their way to Nahant from Colorado.
“So we have a shipwreck and a whale. We cleaned up the swing set and the monkey bars, replaced all the benches and the picnic tables, and repainted everything,” Barletta said. “The company that transported the whale actually came here from Colorado, and the entire trip, people were pulling them over taking pictures and asking ‘Where’s this whale going?’ It traveled the whole country and never saw the ocean until now.”
Barletta, Carrasco, Fire Chief Austin Antrim, and Department of Public Works Director Zach Taylor cut the ribbon alongside resident George Mihoven, whose advocacy for the playground’s renovation led to Barletta naming the whale “George” after him.
Mihoven said more than 50 years ago, he and his childhood friends used to play baseball and football on the land that is now Little Nahant Playground. When the new pieces of equipment started to show up around the playground, Mihoven said his face lit up as he noticed more and more children enjoying it.
After the ribbon was cut, Carrasco wasted no time and ran to climb up the shipwreck structure, which she described as her “favorite part” of the new playground.
“It’s really all about the children,” Mihoven said. “I have driven by here a couple of times and seen at least half a dozen people here, which I haven’t seen in 50 years… It just puts a smile on my face.”
