Aurora's oldest park gets new playground

The sounds of joyous children climbing, jumping and spinning on new playground equipment were almost in sync with the happy sounds coming from the nearby splash pad Thursday in Aurora as temperatures reached into the mid-80s.

The state-of-the-art playground is the newest addition to McCarty Park, which is the oldest park in Aurora.

Nine-year-old Demetrius Hill of Aurora was all smiles as he used his muscles to push a small merry-go-round that was full of children.

Meanwhile, 7-year-old Andy Aravalo, wearing a green cast on his right arm, was laughing and screaming as he ran through the mist the splash pad was providing.

With kids running and playing everywhere, everything came to a halt (sort of) when Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin and other dignitaries had a ceremonial ribbon cutting.

Irvin reminded everyone that McCarty Park was the center square of the whole city of Aurora. "That means everybody used to come here to hang out 150 years ago," he said.

After the festivities, Northern Illinois Food Bank Meals on the Move program was at the park to distribute free take-home meals to children 18 and younger.