The City of St. Marys is celebrating the completion of its new inclusive playground with a grand opening ceremony on Saturday. The new Memorial Park Playground replaces an old wooden one, which city leaders say had safety issues.
The new park is a stark contrast to the wooden castle-like structure. Each piece of play equipment is made of brightly colored plastic and metal.
Lyle Garner, the mayor of St. Marys, said the park also has a foamy floor to make it safer if a child falls.
“It's almost like walking on Jell-O," Garner said. "It's weird.”
The new playground has a zipline, wheelchair-accessible swing, slides and a ramp to get to the top of those slides.
City leaders used a construction team that specializes in inclusive play equipment. To meet ADA standards, Garner said some parts of the original park design had to change.
“People were kind of disappointed," Garner said. "(It) cost a little bit more than what we wanted to, but it's very nice. I'd say it's got to be one of the biggest ones in the area.”
Garner said construction on the park finished last fall, but the weather wasn’t nice enough to hold an opening ceremony at the time.
Garner said they’re planning to hold the ceremony from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. But, there is a chance of showers and maybe thunderstorms.
