{"id":200480,"date":"2026-03-21T14:06:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T14:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/200480\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T14:06:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T14:06:06","slug":"tampa-to-honor-harrison-boonstoppel-with-all-abilities-park-dedication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/200480\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa to honor Harrison Boonstoppel with all-abilities park dedication"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saturday&#8217;s dedication includes remarks from elected officials like Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and Boonstoppel\u2019s family and friends.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampa.gov\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">city of Tampa<\/a> will dedicate a new inclusive playground this weekend honoring the life of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampa.gov\/news\/2023-12\/teen-faces-additional-charges-october-29-fatal-shooting-132851\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Harrison Boonstoppel<\/a>, who was killed at the age of 20 as an innocent bystander while in Ybor City by a 14-year-old in 2023.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Born prematurely alongside his twin sister, Ava, Boonstoppel\u2019s earliest years were spent overcoming significant medical challenges, including reliance on a feeding tube, a hearing disorder, and mobility limitations that required leg braces, according to a news release announcing the dedication. Doctors once questioned whether he would ever walk or talk, but he grew to do both.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the years since his death, his family has sought to channel their grief into advocacy and community-building efforts, particularly for children facing developmental and physical challenges.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On Saturday, Tampa officials will unveil the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/document\/2025\/honorarynamingmotionharrisonboonstoppel.pdf\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Harrison Boonstoppel All Abilities Park<\/a>. Located within the <a href=\"https:\/\/hcfl.gov\/locations\/cypress-creek-nature-preserve\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Cypress Creek Nature Preserve<\/a> in New Tampa, the playground features \u201cinclusive\u201d equipment designed to accommodate children of all physical, cognitive and sensory abilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Saturday\u2019s dedication includes remarks from elected officials like Tampa City Council member <a href=\"https:\/\/floridapolitics.com\/archives\/tag\/luis-viera\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Luis Viera<\/a> and Boonstoppel\u2019s family and friends, and a commemorative sign bearing Boonstoppel\u2019s name will be installed. The ceremony, planned for Saturday, is private \u2014 although it is open to the media. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hklaw.com\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external noreferrer nofollow\" data-wpel-link=\"external\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-702884 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Florida_Politics_and_Influence_Magazine_728x90.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIn the face of unimaginable loss, the Boonstoppel family has chosen to celebrate Harrison\u2019s life by uplifting others, particularly children who face challenges similar to those he overcame,\u201d the city of Tampa wrote in a press release announcing the ceremony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday&#8217;s dedication includes remarks from elected officials like Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and Boonstoppel\u2019s family and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[11284,92665,92666,92667,28776,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-200480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-city-of-tampa","tag-cypress-creek-nature-preserve","tag-harrison-boonstoppel","tag-harrison-boonstoppel-all-abilities-park","tag-luis-viera","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}