Today all that remains of the Flintstone Adventure Playground between Vimy and Pearl Avenue off of Rea Street is the tall brown wood sign – but once it contained a Flintstone car hand made out of wood.
“The park was once called the Rea Street Conservation Area,” said Crystal Spekking-Percival, the communications coordinator for the Mattagami Region Conservation Authority.
“In 1975, the Authority developed the Flintstone Adventure Playground between Vimy and Pearl Ave. after houses were removed and the land was cleared, “ Spekking-Percival explained. “Through the implementation of the Town Creek Flood Abatement Program landscaping work was carried out with construction crews."
According to Spekking-Percival, the Conservation Authority wanted to show the public the lands which are flood prone and hazardous for other types of development, could wisely be used as parkland.
Kees Pols recently retired staff member of the Mattagami Region Conservation Authority recalled that once the Authority acquired the land under its flood abatement program and all houses and other structures were removed from the hazard lands.
“It was decided to landscape the area and provide local residents with a park.” Pols recalled. “The Authority used summer students under the guidance of Authority staff to build the structures and install them.
“The area was developed around 1975 for the neighbourhood families and the Flintstones seemed like an appropriate theme at the time,” Pols said explaining why it was called Flintstone Adventure Playground.
“The park never had any replicas of the characters but it did have a Flintstone car along with the usual swings, seesaws,” And the structures were brightly painted.
The Flintstone parkette was created in 1975 when Hank Bielek was the chair of the Mattagami Region Conservation Authority .
A smaller park to the southwest at the corner of Theriault and Algonquin Blvd. W. was named after Hank Bielek. The park also includes a dedication plaque in his honour.
In 1961 Town Creek in Timmins and the area where Flintstone Park is today experienced a catastrophic flood but since then the area has had minor flooding but never to the extent of what occurred in 1961.
Suzanne Girard Whissell, Timmins author whose book, The Memoirs of Suzanne (Girard) Whissell: Timmins Flood Survivor, recounts the tragedy of the flood, which saw her lose five members of the Girard family. She is only one of two family members who survived the flood.
