North Catasauqua Mayor William Molchany covered the borough’s Tot Lot at North Catasauqua William J. Albert Memorial Park, 701 Grove St., April 18, hoping to surprise youngsters with some changes at the playground. The cover did not last long as the tarp was removed well before the ceremony.

“We got a Community Development Block Grant,” Molchany said. “Lamont McClure (Northampton County executive) and Frank Brooks pushed to get the funding. The borough’s public works crew, under Travis Brett, did much of the work needed to install the new playground equipment and relocate some of the old standards.”

“We had to relocate the train to get the right clearances between the new playground equipment,” Brett said.

The train was also upgraded with a new paint job.

Councilwoman Cherie Gebhardt, head of the recreation committee, pushed to get funding for the project. The park is the borough’s main recreation center. The borough continues to work to improve the facility for borough residents.

One of the unique features Gebhardt added was a noise tunnel.

“Anyone who gets too rattled by playground noise can go in the tunnel and get away from the noise,” she said.

New sets of swings have toddler swings that face the regular swing, so the little one and their guardian can swing together.