Savonburg Mayor Aaron Wilson watched children slide, swing and climb around the equipment at the city park’s new playground on Sunday. He smiled.
“That’s what it’s supposed to be. That’s the goal,” he said.
It’s taken years for the playground to take shape, but the equipment is now in place with a rubber-mulch base. Volunteer crews have marked the path of a new walking trail and are spreading crushed limestone along the quarter-mile path.
Still to come are benches and picnic tables.
Next month, the community will have a ribbon cutting along with a recycling event.
Everything at the park is recycled, reused, renewed and restored.
The refurbished playground equipment was bought from an elementary school years ago in the Kansas City area. Most of it has been sandblasted and repainted.
The rubber mulch is made from a recycled product.
Large trees were cut down to make room. Their stumps serve as seats and are placed around what will be a garden area. The rest of the wood was given away as firewood or piled into what will eventually be a huge bonfire.
Volunteers contributed more than 200 hours since May of 2021 to the effort.
A local farmer, who prefers to be anonymous, used his equipment to help prepare the site. Others, including Wilson, provided the core of a small group of regular volunteers with others pitching in at times.
One work day, volunteers dug holes and mixed cement by hand to install the playground equipment.
Volunteers gathered for another work day in December to cut open 14 2,000-pound bags of mulch and spread it across the area.
Kathy Hale, librarian and secretary of Savonburg PRIDE, said raising money for the project and weather were the biggest delays for the project.
Now that the playground is done, she’s excited to see it unveiled to the public. The playground is already getting a lot of use.
“The primary need was the playground,” she said. “Now we’re able to have a walking trail and a picnic area. We have some funds left and about two or three ideas, so we’ll give it some time and see what moves to the top of the list.”
