RIPPLE/Lindsay Craven
The site for the playground at the beginning of construction.
The children of Yadkin County have a new playground to choose from. The playground at Yadkin County Park has completed construction and is open for business.
“When we started renovating the park, the playground equipment that was already there at the walking trail was archaic,” said Aaron Church, county manager. “It was old steel type stuff and there was very little there so we immediately decided that we would remove what was there and then we decided that we would start looking for a new playground.”
The county looked to various companies for quotes and did research on what playground equipment was already being utilized by Yadkinville Park and nearby churches and schools.
“We wanted it to be something different, something that would give the citizens an alternate type of activity so we decided on a mega tower,” Church said.
The county decided to save money on the playground by using county workers to construct the playground. The construction was completed a week ahead of schedule.
“It saved probably about $10,000 to $15,000 by doing the work ourselves,” Church said. “The playground was completed a week early due to hard work. The county staff put it together and we pulled folks from different departments and they went out there and did the work.”
The county funded the purchase and construction of the playground. The playground is located just behind the YMCA and next to the county pool and picnic shelter. The site was chosen based on a recommendation from Site Solutions who created the comprehensive master plan for the playground, Church said.
“The recommendation was because it was close to the pool, close to the shelter and that’s the main thing,” Church said. “We can rent the shelter’s for birthday parties or ball team parties or family reunions or whatever and it will give folks a place where they can have some type of gathering or event.”
The playground will not be available for rent but is located at a convenient location to the picnic shelter.
The playground covers 7,289 square feet and is surrounded by 400 cubic yards of certified playground mulch, Church says. County officials are still working to get traffic signs and a rules and regulation sign around the playground area and two speed bumps have been added to the road alongside the playground for safety.
Church says many residents may be wondering why the county chose to take on this task now and he says the county has two reasons.
“It’s something that everybody who has children or knows somebody that has children can use and enjoy and it’s something that taxpayers can’t typically afford to buy for themselves,” Church said. “It’s [the county] providing for citizens what would be very difficult for them to provide for themselves. It will be there for a long time and it will be used by anyone who wants to use it.”
Church says that the playground will also make the county more appealing to potential businesses in the future.
“There are several surveys that I’ve read and studied, and you’d be surprised that education and parks and recreation is more important to companies than incentives,” Church said. “When they come into town they want to see the schools, they want to see the parks because a lot of times they have children or grandchildren, and they want to see that. Places like the playground could make the difference in whether a company comes or goes.”
Church says that the county has also cleared out woods surrounding the pond at the county park and created a peninsula that allows park goers to walk to the center of the pond to fish. The county is considering adding handrails along the pond and putting in ducks and geese that residents can feed.
Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@heartlandpublications.com.
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