New Playground at Wirth Court Park - Grand Opening

Monday, October 10 at 2p.m.

You Designed It……You Built It…… Now Come and Play on It!! What: Grand Opening of the 'new' Wirth Court Park Playground, 61 Waubesa Street When: Monday, October 10, 2011 at 2:00p.m. Madison, WI | Hundreds of volunteers descended upon a quiet east side park in the early morning of October 6, 2011. Their mission - build a brand new playground from the ground up - and do it all before 2:30p.m.! The journey to the new Wirth Court playground started several months ago when the Goodman Community Center was awarded a KaBOOM! grant. In August, children and their parents were invited to a "Design Day" where they drew up plans for their own dream park. Thanks to the generous donation of a $75,000 KaBOOM! playground by Kraft Foods Foundation and the combined efforts of Kraft Foods/Oscar Mayer Madison employees, as well as Goodman Community Center employees, Madison Parks employees, volunteers, and neighbors, the new playground was built and installed in less than 6 hours. Volunteers from all over the community came out on October 6 to assist with this updated version of a barn-raising. Erica from Kraft Foods, participating in her 2nd KaBOOM! Build Day said, "I'm planning on bringing my kids here, I think they will love it." And 8 year old Jasmeen added, "It sounded fun, and I'm excited to help out other kids to have their own park." Kinaan, a neighborhood student added, "My mom signed me up and I was like OK!, It's Pretty cool!" In addition to the play equipment being built, there were several other ‘side' projects that were completed that added a unique flair to the park: new benches, two new trees, playing boards painted and added to the picnic tables and mosaic tile river. The Hippo at Wirth Court Park (or known locally as ‘Hippo Park') now has a river running around it. Thanks to the efforts of the Art teacher at Lowell Elementary School, and the students, 125 tiles were designed, decorated and installed. Because the concrete needs to cure and set, the new playground needs 72 hours before the kids can play on it. Join your friends and neighbors on Monday, October 10 at 2p.m. for the Grand Opening and be among the first to play on the new playground that was designed by you and built by you!

Links