New oceanfront park now open to public

VIRGINIA BEACH -- May 22 was a day of signs at the southernmost end of the Boardwalk.

Above Landon Hale, of Kempsville, who was in a wheelchair, was a sign covered in white cloth. He and his mother, Andrea, and other members of his family, waited anxiously at the entrance to JT’s Grommet Island Beach Park & Playground for EveryBODY at 2nd Street for the sign to be unveiled and for the park to open.

Announcements, thank yous and presentations were going on at the stage at 1st Street, but the Hales and other families could hardly wait to be the first ones in the park.

Andrea Hale doesn’t usually come to the beach, but that’s going to change.

“I will for this,” she said.

For Hale, it’s a matter of functionality.

Her 5-year-old son Collin isn’t disabled and can run and play. His younger brother, Landon, has epilepsy and developmental delays. He uses a wheelchair, but can sit up on his own.

Other playgrounds have mulch or material on the ground that prevent access for the disabled.

“It’s not easy to maneuver,” said his mother.

JT’s Grommet Island has smooth decking and features where people in wheelchairs can play. The Hale brothers can be together with their mom close by.

“It’s nice to bring the other one and have him in there with me,” said Andrea Hale.

In the vast blue sky above JT’s Grommet Island Beach Park & Playground for EveryBODY, an airplane pulled another sign: “We love you Josh,” glided through the warm spring air.

Josh Thompson, a Beach resident who with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is the inspiration for the handicapped accessible park.

His father, Bruce Thompson, addressed the crowd of hundreds from a stage at 1st Street, where signs with the names of the park’s sponsors hung for all to see. Josh, he said, was watching and listening from home through the computer software Skype.

Josh’s friends, members of The Virginia Gentlemen Foundation, assisted with the presentation and have plans to create an endowment for the future maintenance and expansion of the park, said Benjamin Davenport, chairman.

Teams are forming for the third annual JT Walk & Beach Party, to be held Oct. 3, which will raise funds for the ALS Association patient services and research and the endowment for JT’s Grommet Island Beach Park & Playground. Visit www.jtwalk.org for more information.

Stacy Parker is a freelancer who covers Virginia Beach for the Beacon section of The Virginian-Pilot.