The swings are up, the slides are ready and the children are having fun.
The new community-built Kate’s Kause charity playground in Gibson Park is finally open for business.
After a strong surge courtesy of a large number of volunteers, the majority of the playground equipment was installed on June 23 awaiting the rubber surfacing to be set in place. The material is needed around the equipment to prevent children from hurting themselves if they fell.
“We estimated the flooring would take about six days to install,” said Kelly Meissner who spearheaded the fundraising effort. “Unfortunately it took longer than expected and we were not able to open on Canada Day as we had planned. It was the only slow down we had in the entire project.”
Just over 16 months ago Meissner and her husband Jeremy started Kate’s Kause to raise funds to build a playground that children with special needs like their daughter Kate could use to help them develop through play and interaction with other children.
Kate was diagnosed with Angelman Syndrome (AS) in 2010. People with AS typically have little or no verbal skills, possible seizures, sleep disorders, and poor gross and fine motor skills.
Through tireless work the Meissners managed to raise $300,000 and finally saw their vision completed last week when the final rubber flooring was placed into the playground.
The playground includes a junior and senior play section, swings and a flower garden. A water element and a Northwoods sensory wall will be added to the playground in the future.
The sensory wall will be a sculpture roughly 10 feet long and seven feet high. Within the wall there will be numerous animal carvings and nature themed activities for children to interact and play with. The wall will be placed in the garden area of the playground next summer.
“The wall is something that is very important to us because it makes the whole place completely accessible and it reaches those sensory issues. It is custom-made with a forest theme with animals and kids will be able to touch the different textiles and hear all the different sounds,” said Meissner during the volunteer build.
Regardless of the late opening the playground, which will be officially called Kate’s Playground For Everyone, seems to be a big hit with the children.
“Now that it is all completed, it is very cool and we are getting a great response from everyone,” said Meissner. “Lots of people have come out to see the playground and that is what we wanted.”
For four-year-old Joshua Thompson from West Montrose who was visiting the park Monday with his sister and mother the playground was a lot of fun.
“I really like all the climbing. It is really cool,” he said.
