Starting Tuesday, visitors to Basil Griffin Park were able to make music during their visit.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of their creation, the Bowling Green Kiwanis Club opened a sensory music garden on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Jessie Reece, secretary for the club, said the project began nearly two years ago when the club began looking at ways to celebrate their centenary.

Reece said the garden is the first of its kind in Warren County. The city of Bowling Green has one, Reece said, but it was decided to install one in a county park as well.

“We decided to do something unique,” Reece said. “Because it was our birthday, we wanted to share something with the community.”

The garden features handicap-accessible instruments that children and adults alike can use to create music.

The cost for the project was $70,000. Reece said the Kiwanis Club paid $22,000 of the cost. Reece also said a $20,000 grant was given from the Kiwanis International Children’s Fund. The remaining money came from donations from local businesses, entities and other members of the club, with space for the garden provided by Warren County Parks and Recreation.

“It was a collaboration of about 20 different partners,” Reece said.

Chris Kummer, director of Warren County Parks and Recreation, during a speech at the ribbon cutting, thanked Warren Fiscal Court for helping WCPR realize projects such as this.

“We’ve been able to do some amazing things in the past 20 to 30 years, and we have some great things moving forward,” Kummer said.

In his speech, Kummer said he believes the garden will be a “wonderful addition” to Basil Griffin Park, and thanked the Bowling Green community for supporting park projects in the past.

“We are so blessed to be able to have the quality of life that we have,” Kummer said. “We are here to provide services to all 137,000 residents and visitors that live here and work here.”

Reece said the choice to install the garden at Basil Griffin was made because that park has the most visitors.

“We knew it would definitely be played with by 10,000 plus kids a year,” Reece said. “We knew every day it would get played with.”

In attendance at the dedication was Chelsea Morrison and her 1-year-old daughter Emeri. Morrison, a third-grade teacher at Oakland Elementary School, said she is excited for the opportunities that the park will provide for children who visit.

“I’m excited for there to be a place for kids to experience physical play and also get to play good music,” Morrison said.