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Playground, ball field to get a makeover
Fund created in memory of daughter
Friday, April 3, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by CAROL HARVAT
Chesapeake Beach playground, the Tot Lot, will be getting new surfaces and six new pieces of equipment, and field repairs to Kellams field's baseball diamond have already begun.
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After years of neglect, Chesapeake Beach's Tot Lot and Kellams field will be getting a face lift with new surfacing, landscaping and equipment.
A Chesapeake Beach couple, Melanie and Jayson Loveless, whose 2 -year-old daughter Megan Jade died suddenly in January, created a fund in their daughter's memory to make improvements to the town's playground, the Tot Lot, and the Calvert Library Twin Beaches branch.
The couple announced the plans at the Chesapeake Beach Town Council meeting last month saying, "The Tot Lot was something she enjoyed." Megan liked to go to the library and play at the Tot Lot and Melanie Loveless said she and her husband want to "make it cleaner, safer and more attractive."
The couple is planning a memorial garden for their daughter at the playground and Kelly's Nursery in Dunkirk agreed to donate landscaping, Melanie Loveless said at the meeting.
Chesapeake Beach Mayor Bruce Wahl told the couple after presenting the idea at the meeting, "I can't say how grateful I am, especially at this difficult time."
"It's in pretty rough shape to put it mildly. It needs some TLC," he said of the Tot Lot.
Through donations in memory of their daughter, the Lovelesses have raised a substantial amount of money and have just purchased six new attractions for the Tot Lot, Wahl said this week in an interview. The plan is to replace the engineered wood that is on the surface of the playground and replace the rubber matting placed in strategic areas, such as in front of slides, Wahl said. The Lovelesses just created a Web site that details the landscape design and photos at www.meganjade.org, he said.
The work at Kellams field has already begun, with a new top coat mix spread on the infield of the baseball diamond, Wahl said. The county is doing the work and the town is purchasing the materials, he said.
"Everyone is stepping up. The kids will get to play baseball this year," Wahl said.
Bruce Powers, coach and commissioner for the county Babe Ruth baseball league, addressed the poor condition of the field at the town meeting last month. Calvert has been playing home games in St. Mary's County because Kellams field could not be used, he said.
"I've been trying to get the field fixed for eight years," said council member Stewart Cumbo.
If the field is fixed, it can be used for all sports and used for tournaments that would bring people to the town, Powers said.
Wahl said this week that the field has been scheduled for baseball practice and games and a tournament is a possibility as well.
