Rotary Skyrocket Compost Sale for Comox Valley Accessible Park coming this spring!

On Saturday April 3 the Strathcona Sunrise Rotary Club SOLD OUT of Skyrocket Compost at the Driftwood Mall in Courtenay. 

Proceeds from the sale will be put towards an exciting new project to build a universally accessible playground next to the south end of the Courtenay Airpark.

What a great day!!  The sun shone and the skyrocket sold.  We were sold out by 11 am and for a while the traffic was backed up past the lights on Cliffe Ave.   Our gross proceeds (we still have expenses to take out) was over $25,000!  Way to go, have a restful remainder of your Easter weekend, and thanks to everyone for pitching in to make it a success.

“We ran a test Skyrocket sale in the fall to work out the logistics of bagging and selling the compost.  Now we are ready for the Spring sale, and are excited to be supporting a worthy community project with the proceeds,” says Wendy Lewis, president of the Strathcona Sunrise Rotary Club.  All skyrocket will be pre-bagged and ready for sale at the Driftwood Mall for $5 per bag on Saturday April 3.

Skyrocket is a nutrient rich soil amendment for lawns and gardens made from a mix of wood chips and biosolids that’s composted at the CVRD Biosolids Composting Facility in Cumberland. It’s ideal for use in residential landscaping, orchards, flower gardens and lawns. 

The universally accessible park design is underway with input coming from local user groups.   The goal is to create a park where children with mobility challenges can have access to playground equipment.  Currently there is not an accessible playground in the Comox Valley.  Local children and caregivers with mobility challenges have not had a playground option in the Valley.

 The City of Courtenay has enthusiastically agreed to partner on this project, which has also received promised support from the Comox Valley Community Foundation and the Courtenay Rotary Club.  

The key to a universally accessible park is having a play surface that is suitable for wheelchairs and mobility challenged children and caregivers.  Traditional surfaces of pea gravel or woodchips make manoeuvring around play structures impossible for these groups.  This playground will use a poured rubber surfacing, which is considerably more expensive but perfect for accessibility and durability. The play equipment will be fun and appealing for all children, but will be specially suited for the needs of mobility challenged groups.  

Surveying of the property has been completed and removal of some blackberry bush on the property is complete.  If all goes well park planning should be completed by early spring, with site preparation occurring in May, park construction in June, and park opening planned for July 2010.  “We are excited to be partnering with community groups on this project, and are happy to be filling a need in the area” says Randy Wiwchar, community services director for the City of Courtenay. 

If you would like to support or get further information on the park project you can contact Wendy Lewis at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .