As your venerable Newtown Bee quietly got a bit older, turning 146 years old on Wednesday, June 28, we did not spend a lot of time looking back on past glories, or resting on our laurels as there are so many new and exciting things happening around town to talk about.

After a delay earlier this month caused by the pesky and unhealthy haze of Canadian wildfires, Newtown’s long-awaited Bicycle Playground officially opened late last week in an area behind the Community Center. In fact, if you enter the property beside the Senior Center and keep driving toward Cochran House, you’ll find a designated parking lot to off-load your children and bikes — and don’t forget your helmets and optional padding if desired.

This playground is among the newest destinations to put Newtown on the map because the bicycle playground is not only unique for the town and state, but perhaps all of the northeast according to Brad Accettella, who is on the sub-committee established for the creation of this park under the direction of Newtown Parks and Recreation.

Kudos to Accettella — who also serves on the Newtown Bike & Trail Committee — and his colleagues who did great work grooming the bike playground and getting it ready for use, along with Amy Mangold, director of Newtown Parks and Recreation, who served on the sub-committee that helped bring the park to fruition with Paula Burton, Newtown Parks & Rec Commission Chairman Clinton DePaolo, and Assistant Director of Parks Carl Samuelson.

Then, just a few days later on June 23, Newtown’s own EverWonder Children’s Museum held its grand re-opening in its new location at 11 Mile Hill Road. Much more centrally located between Fairfield Hills and South Main Street just below Walgreens, the new space boasts tons of parking and a glorious expanse of interior space to grow.

With about three times the square footage, the fun will keep on happening as new exhibits, events, and hands-on displays continue springing up throughout the facility. Director Merredith Christos and her board, staff, and volunteers have done Newtown proud. We commend their spectacular efforts ensuring everything was gently relocated from the decidedly more cramped confines of their former Pecks Lane digs to their much more spacious new forever home.

Readers, as well as swimmers, anglers, boaters, and watercraft users will be seeing another brand new addition in the coming weeks as the Lake Zoar Authority’s new, high-speed patrol boat takes to the waters helping to enforce safe boating regulations and responding to issues along that extensive local waterway. The boat was officially launched a couple of weeks ago, and along with the LZA’s other boat, will be visible along with the authority’s sworn team of officers over the upcoming holiday period and through the rest of the summer.

Finally, our Newtown Board of Education welcomed two new members this week.

Shannon Tomai and Todd Higgins were duly appointed following a unanimous endorsement by the remaining GOP members on the board whose job it was to fill the two vacancies following the recent resignations of Republicans Jennifer Larkin and Janet Kuzma. We wish our two newest BOE volunteers the best, and look forward to seeing the board resume its important work on behalf of our students and the community with a full complement of members.