Hastings — Sarah Stoner stands just off the south shore of the Trent River and playfully swings her sons James and Marshal into the water.

Nearby, other children swim and splash in the shallow water and play on a gently-sloping beach bordered by green lawns. It’s a sight that would have been impossible two years ago, says Hastings Revitalization Association past chairman Steve Roddy.

“I had people say to me to me, ‘well, that’s not much of a beach,’ and ‘I would never let my kids play there,’” Roddy said this week following the official opening of the south beach and parkland improvement project in Hastings.

“It’s been years since we’ve seen people using this beach. It kind of got forgotten, but now its full of people.”

The beach and adjacent parkland have been improved and landscaped, thanks to a partnership involving Trent Hills, the Hastings Revitalization Association and the Hastings Hydro Board, which together provided $60,000 in funding for the project. The south beach and parkland improvement project is the first phase of the broader Hastings downtown and waterfront improvement plan, which has an estimated overall price tag of between $600,000 and $900,000. The municipality provided $50,00 for the first phase, and the revitalization association and hydro board contributed $5,000 each.

Part of the project involved the rehabilitation of the beach area, which was built up and filled with sand. The beach now slopes gently to the river, where before it dropped off into water filled with weeds, rocks and gritty sand. The stretch of shoreline east of the Hastings Marina was also landscaped and improved with new trees, flower beds, decorative rocks, new seating areas and an interlocking brick walking path. The parkland and adjacent dock and marina area have been enhanced by seven new light standards designed and built by students in the manufacturing program at Norwood District High School.

“It’s going good, and hopefully it will just keep on going from there,” Roddy said. “It’s projects like these that make communities, make people want to come to Hastings for a visit and that make people want to stay here and live here and raise a family here.”

Arnice Salata, who moved to Hastings in March, never saw the south shore before the enhancement project, but has been told by residents how it once looked.

“I think this is fabulous, she said. “I mean, with all this water, the kids should have a beach to play in; they shouldn’t have to just stand at the edge of the water looking at it.”

Hastings Revitalization Association chairman Roger Warren said the south beach and parkland improvement project is “the first small part of the community’s vision of the revitalization and beautification of Hastings.”

He said the improvements have “made the entire area not only more attractive, but more inviting to visitors and residents alike.”

Warren said the community will continue “chiselling away” to complete the overall plan. The municipality has budgeted $50,000 this year to begin improvements to the main intersection in the downtown area of Hastings, he said.

The improvements will included the addition of plants, benches and garbage containers, “and the general tidying up of that part of town.”

Mayor Hector Macmillan said the completion of the south beach and parkland improvement project was made possible by partnerships.

“It’s all about partnerships, because the municipality can’t do this alone,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important that the community step forward. Now we see so many pieces of the puzzle coming together. It’s soon going to be done if we keep going this way.”