Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
Members of the Merrill Optimist Club were joined by members of the Merrill Chamber on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 23, in celebrating the opening of the new all-accesss playgroud at Normal Park. What began nine years ago as an idea for the Merrill Optimist Club to make a significant impact on the Merrill community, came the new playground.
“We were not sure what we wanted to do, but we wanted to make an impact on the community on a large scale,” explained Merrill Optimist Club board member and project coordinator Carrie Cordova, during an August interview with the Merrill Foto News. “Later, as Normal park gained the gazebo and concerts, we witnessed dozens of children and families playing and enjoying music, we finally knew what the ‘What’ was and that was an all-inclusive playground.”
Officailly open to the public as of Oct. 7, the all-access playground broke ground in July of 2019, with the project wrapping up on Oct. 5. After working with various design and build contractors, project organizers settled with Gametime Playground Equipment of Fort Payne, AL.
“We had a design in mind from working with another contractor and Gametime made the process very easy for us. We sent them what we were looking for and they made it happen!”
While total cost of the playground rang up close to $300,000, had it not been for assistance from the community, the bill could have been much higher.
When the components were ready to be delivered last October, rather than the Optimists having to fund transportation from Gametime’s facility in northeastern Alabama, Dennis Krueger and Rick Bliese of Lincoln Wood Products stepped forward to help. The pair not only coordinated transport of the components free of charge, but also storage of the components until the structure was ready for assembly in the summer.
“Lincoln Wood Products was instrumental in pickup, delivery and storing of the playground in one of their trucks,” said Cordova. “The equipment needed to be purchased and take delivery prior to the end of the year in 2018.”
Aside from the many features of the new playground, including a ramp system for wheelchair accessibility, wheelchair accessible merry-go-round, tandem swings and stimulation components such as wind chimes and sensory panels, the final touch added was the installation of a rubber, impact absorbent playground base surface.
“Without the efforts of so many in our community, there is no way we could have made this playground a reality,” Cordova added. “Randy Wixon was our instrumental leader in securing funding from our Major Donor, The Bierman Family Foundation, along with dealing with all of our contractors and city officials to help make everything run smoothly. We are so happy with the enthusiasm this playground has gained with the community and are so happy to finally have it open. When you visit the playground, please take a moment to read the Optimist Creed on one of our signs at the playground, it truly defines what it is to be an Optimist.”