Towpath Trail YMCA adding Sensory Garden

The Towpath Trail YMCA in Navarre is preparing a new space that will appeal to the senses of adults and children alike. Called a Sensory Music Garden, the space will be another attractive addition to the 15-year-old YMCA facility.

The Sensory Garden, along with a new playground area being provided in conjunction with the Village of Navarre, will help offer activities for older children. It promises to bring new sensations to all who enter.

“With the big kids’ playground coming, we have turned our focus to providing a multi-generational, handicapped-accessible sensory garden,” Towpath Trail YMCA childcare director Amanda Doubledee said. “We got our sandbox two years ago. This spring we’re adding a water trough table and then along the other wide will be musical metal flowers and bells. We have a master gardener who is a member and is planting fragrant flowers, herbs and other plants to add another sensory experience to the garden. There will be elements to appeal to touch, smell, hearing, sight and taste, all part of the new Sensory Garden.”

The space will be available to the entire village of Navarre, not just to YMCA members. “We wanted to do something for every age group and for a large number of people in the area,” Doubledee said. “It’s very unique, and there is nothing else like it nearby as far as we are aware.”

“We hold a lot of events out here,” Towpath Trail YMCA executive director Beth Alban said of the space adjacent to the new Sensory Garden. “During warm-weather months, we’ve found the space to be perfect for getting the community together. We have a small stage for bands, and people tend to come here and spend time during the warmer months. It has become a center of activity for the village of Navarre. We have been working on this project for the past few years in small pieces and have just added our pergola and picnic tables. We are very excited about what this space will become and how the people of the village will be able to enjoy it and use it.”

Funding for the Sensory Garden has been accomplished through small fundraisers. Currently, the fundraiser is in conjunction with Pepperoni Rollers, a New Philadelphia company that provides pepperoni rolls to local organizations to raise money. The pepperoni rolls can be ordered at the YMCA for $2 or $3, $1 of which goes directly to the YMCA. Order the rolls April 1-23, and they can be picked up in early May.

While other parts of the YMCA’s current expansion are funded in part through assistance from the Village of Navarre, the Sensory Garden is entirely funded by the YMCA via special events.

The Towpath Trail YMCA is a four-star childcare center with activities for age 3 through teenagers.

“With the new playground for older children, we will be able to provide plenty of activities for kids and adults in the community,” Alban said. “A ball field will be removed to make more space, and the village is providing some excellent playground equipment to make this a wonderful place to come and have fun. All of us have put a lot of effort into bringing all this together for the community, and we’re glad to get this little nudge together with the village to move things along a little faster.”

The YMCA added a full library to the facility in 2008 and a pool in 2014. More information about classes, programs and available facilities is at www.weststarky.org.

The Towpath Trail YMCA (YMCA of Western Stark County) is located at 1226 Market St. NE in Navarre.