Written By PAULA BROWN

Taped off no more. 

After months of being closed off to the public due to COVID-19, Shelburne playgrounds lost their caution tape and officially opened for public use at noon on Friday (July 17). 

While the parks were open the number of attendees was small in the Friday mid-afternoon heat. Ryan and Ashley Ulrich, who brought their 19-month old son Grayson and three week old daughter Brielle to the park, were part of the small group of 12 people at Greenwood Park in Shelburne.

“I actually went for a drive to get my eyebrows done and I didn't know they were open and I said to him ‘look I see kids at the park, let's go',” said Ashley. “There wasn't a lot of people here, so we thought we'll take a nice walk and get out of the house.” 

The reopening of the playgrounds marks a return to a sense of normalcy after four months, which parents have said has been challenging not only for themselves, but for their children too. 

“It's been hard trying to entertain him,” said Ashley. “We don't have a fenced in yard so it's trying to contain him in the backyard, it's hard, and we don't have a park to entertain him with so it has definitely been a struggle for us.”

Nicole Morin, who brought her sons Cadan and Jace, sat and watched on as the two boys climbed across the jungle gym.

“It was pretty shocking especially for the kids, they didn't really have that much to do anymore – they were at home,” said Nicole talking about the original closure of the play structures. “They would play in the backyard and what not, but mostly just stayed indoors.”

With the playgrounds now open, the Town of Shelburne included a reminder that they are not going to be regularly sanitized, something that has not deterred the families who say they are taking precautions.

“I usually always have hand sanitizer so anywhere we go they always wash their hands,” said Nicole also saying that with the lower COVID-19 cases it has brought down panic towards the pandemic. 

“We'll make sure we wash our hands,” said Ashley. “Obviously we hope that if anyone is sick they wouldn't come out to the park, but we'll still use proper precautions.” 

For the children, they're happy to be back and few nerves about the return.

“At first I was [nervous] but now I'm not, I got over that,” Cadan said.