Waco’s civic leaders have understandably always supported plans to repair and reinvigorate aging Lions Park at New Road and Bosque Boulevard. To understand why, you have only to drive by during warm, sunny days when our children frolic amid rides, just as some of us did many moons ago. It’s part of our heritage.

But few of us stopped to realize that Lions Park, even in its sad state of disrepair, is not only our heritage but a part of our national heritage, one of only 14 amusement parks left of about 200 such facilities specifically designed for small children. According to the National Amusement Park Historical Association (we never guessed there was one!), many such parks were built during our nation’s unprecedented era of prosperity in the 1950s, when many parents, having endured the Great Depression and World War II, envisioned only the very best for their children.

As Trib staff writer Bill Teeter revealed in his Page One story on Thursday, Waco’s Lions Park was part of that optimistic mix, which may explain why it remains a key part of our lives today, especially as we seek someplace that replicates the joyful simplicity of those earlier times.

All of this makes us even more excited about efforts led by the Waco Association of Realtors to fix up the park and get it looking good and functioning well by Memorial Day weekend. That includes replacing or refurbishing picnic tables, updating bathrooms, fixing up the park’s beloved train and tunnel, overhauling the big slide, reworking electrical fixtures, repainting rides, maintenance of the go-carts and replacing the carousel.

It’s way overdue, but the work is being undertaken by numerous parties with Waco’s best interests at heart, including the Heart of Texas Apartment Association, the Central Texas Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America, the Central Texas Homebuilders Association, the Sherwin-Williams Co., Knife River, Parsons Roofing, Jim Bowen Electrical, the Junior League and Texas State Technical College’s Waco campus.

Kudos to all of them for their commitment in this ambitious project, one that pays homage to our past while ensuring fleeting joys for our children in the here and now.

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• Waco volunteer effort aims to improve Lions Park