Fountainhead Park

Equipment by Miracle Recreation.

Surface: Wood chips.

With all the attention that the Eglinton Crosstown line has been getting for its cost overruns and long-overdue opening, you might have forgotten that Toronto has another highly-criticized new transit project: the Finch West LRT.

Sure, it wasn’t as expensive as the Crosstown – a paltry $360 million/km, compared to Eglinton’s legendary per kilometre cost of $600 million – but when it comes to inefficiency, Finch is the champ. Shortly after it opened, people were mocking the line’s slow pace by hosting a “Finch LRT Marathon,” hilariously dubbed the “marathon of hopelessness,” in which runners tried to (and easily succeeded in) running the route faster than the streetcar could make it. The CBC gleefully reported that one runner finished 18 minutes ahead of the train.

Sorry; I know you didn’t come here for critiques of public transit. The Finch LRT happens to be on my mind because we watched it go by the other day while we were playing at Fountainhead Park. So if you’ll pardon the pun, let’s get back on track.

Fountainhead Park proved to be a solid playground. A nice big climber by Miracle is the highlight, with its twisting purple slide, bridge, and double-height ladders providing plenty of fun for the kids.

Also on the menu is a saucer swing, several conventional swings, spinners, and a nice junior climber as well. A small cluster of percussion instruments sits off to the side right near the covered picnic area, which must be a good reprieve from the summer heat. It’s too bad, given the amount of open space in the park, that it doesn’t have a splash pad or wading pool. (For nearby water play you can head to Sentinel Park.)

Apparently, plans are in the works for Fountainhead Park to get a rink and skate trail. Which is cool, although city plans show that the upcoming construction might eat into the conveniently-placed parking lot at the park’s western edge.

As I looked across the park to where the skate trail might someday be located, I was happy that the park was going to get a bit of a winter-fun upgrade. But then I watched the Finch LRT crawl past like a snail through peanut butter, and reminded myself that all Toronto construction plans should be taken with a healthy grain of salt.