SCRANTON — City and state officials on Wednesday celebrated the recent completion of a new playground at Weston Park, which is the latest recreational site in the city to get a significant upgrade in recent years.
Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, council President Gerald Smurl, state Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, D-114, Waverly Twp., the Governor’s Office Northeast Regional Director Drew Popish, The Arc of NEPA Manager of Recreation Services Mari Pizur, a crowd of children from The Arc summer camp and others participated in a ribbon cutting of a $400,000 project that built a new playground and walking trail at Weston Park.
Noting The Arc has been using Weston Park as a summer camp site for the past 20 years, Pizur thanked the city and its Parks and Recreation Department. The Arc summer camp, which has 41 children enrolled this year, is the only summer camp site of the nonprofit organization that serves Northeast Pennsylvania’s eight counties of Lackawanna, Luzerne, Pike, Wayne, Wyoming, Susquehanna, Monroe and Carbon counties, Pizur said.
“We’re really, really happy to partner with the city and have them join with us and show us the respect that everyone deserves,” Pizur said.
Cognetti noted the city recently rehabilitated the pool at Weston Park and the new playground is “another great feature” at the heavily-used park at 127 Spring St. in North Scranton. The mayor also thanked state Rep. Kyle Donahue, D-113, Scranton, city consultant Thomas McLane and Associates of Scranton and contractor Chilewski Enterprises of Fleetville for their efforts.
“We’re so lucky to have so many great local partners to help us build out these things,” Cognetti said.
The city paid for the Weston Park playground project with a $200,000 grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and $200,000 from federal Community Development Block Grant funding allocated to the city.
Kosierowski said she also wants to seek additional state funds for more disabled-accessible playground equipment, such as sensory boards, at Weston Park.
“We’re going to work on trying to get funding for that,” Kosierowski said.
The city’s 2021 Recreation Needs Assessment and Master Plan evaluated conditions of all of the city’s parks and recreation facilities, proposed improvements and raised prospects of fundamental changes to some of them.
Other parks that have gotten significant improvements under the Cognetti administration have included Robinson Park on East Mountain, Billy Barrett Park in Minooka, Oakmont Park near Lake Scranton, the North Scranton Mini Park and Weston Field, where a new pool just opened and a skate park is on the way there. A playground and splash pad at the former defunct Penn Ridge site on Capouse Avenue and an overhaul of the Grace Street Playground in the Plot Section are also both ahead, while new aquatic features and courts at Nay Aug Park in the Hill Section are underway.
Weston Park in Scranton on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Northeast Regional Director Drew Popish, left, and kids from the community check out the new playground Weston Park in Scranton on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. The ribbon cutting at the playground marked the completion of upgrades at the Weston Park. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Weston Park in Scranton on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Kids play on the playground Weston Park in Scranton on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Mayor Paige Cognetti talks about park projects happening across the city at Weston Field in Scranton on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The Arc of NEPA campers assist with cutting the ribbon at the new playground in Weston Park in Scranton on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)