14 May 2016New playground in Mooney’s Bay Park to be biggest in Canada_ (press release) _ With the help of TVO’s popular children’s television series Giver, Ottawa is about to get Canada’s largest playground yet, just in time for Canada’s 150thanniversary. The City of Ottawa is partnering with the Emmy Award-winning Sinking Ship Entertainment to build a playground at Mooney’s Bay Park as part of Giver’s fourth season for TVO. The City is investing $1 million in this project, which will leverage similar investments from other funding partners. Over the course of ten episodes, the program will show kids and volunteers working together with contractor and designer Michael Lagimodiere to help build a 4,600-square-metre Canada-shaped playground. Each of the country’s provinces and territories will be represented by a unique play space. The Ontario section, for instance, will showcase prominent buildings from the province’s most famous cities, while the Quebec playground will draw on Canada’s fur-trading history. The Maritime provinces playground will have a nautical theme, and British Columbia’s will be inspired by both its Indigenous Peoples and the Rocky Mountains. The playground will also attempt to set the Guinness World Record for the world’s longest set of continuous monkey bars. This will be the 42ndplayground built by Sinking Ship Entertainment. The City of Ottawa was selected as the location for their largest project to date to acknowledge Canada’s 150thanniversary in 2017, when the park will be completed. There will be an official opening ceremony on Canada Day that year. Season four of Giver will air on TVO in the spring and summer of 2017. The City would like to thank the National Capital Commission (NCC) for its continuing collaboration and assistance on this project. Families and children wishing to take part in Giver can find more information through the show’s website at www.giver150.com . For more information on City programs and services, visit ottawa.ca or call 3-1-1 (TTY: 613-580-9656 ). You can also connect with us through Facebook , Twitter and Instagram . ** ** ** The partners are saying: ** “This is an exciting addition to our City for our youngest residents. Children from all corners of Ottawa – and from across the country - will be able to come and enjoy this new recreational treasure. Mooney’s Bay is a prime location for this signature playground. It is home to some of Ottawa’s premiere events, such as the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival and the Hope Volleyball Summerfest, whose visitors will now also be able to take advantage of Canada’s largest playground.— Mayor Jim Watson “The scope of this project promises to create a destination in River Ward. As a landmark attraction within the city, the playground will make this beloved park an even more vibrant community hub.”— Councillor Riley Brockington, River Ward “Playgrounds are fun-generating spaces that bring people together. The City of Ottawa is the ideal location to celebrate Canada and to house our biggest Giver build ever. We’re absolutely thrilled to be working with our perpetual ally TVO and all our new partners to gift Canada this epic play factory.”— J.J. Johnson, series creator and partner at Sinking Ship “It will be immensely rewarding to watch children and volunteers come together to help create a new neighbourhood space. Once it’s complete, the playground will undoubtedly add to the diverse programming we have already been able to bring to Mooney’s Bay.”— Councillor Diane Deans, Chair of the City’s Community and Protective Services Committee “We are thrilled to be a part of season four of Giver. It is a perfect example of TVO’s commitment to teaching kids about citizen engagement,” “Giver allows us to provide kids with a platform to see how their good intentions, combined with hard work, can benefit an entire community.”— Marney Malabar, Director of Kids TV at TVO.