This Project Was Child’s Play Fort Sherman Playground Gets Workout On First Full Day
The pointy-pinnacled fortress was all a-crawl with kid motion - a miniature Buckingham Palace stuck inside an ant farm.
The Fort Sherman Playground clocked in for its first full day of business Monday, after a frenzied five-day construction and an evening opening Sunday. Grade schools sent kids in by bus. Moms stopped by, parking strollers. A cyclist with a backpack slowed her mountain bike to gawk.
“I can’t believe this thing!” she stammered.
The community project spearheaded by the Panhandle Kiwanis cost just over $115,000. For one year, organizers planned and asked kids just what they wanted in a playground. And on Saturday, 998 volunteers were there, pounding nails and sawing at planks.
And now that it’s finished?
“The proof,” volunteer handyman Ray Tekverk said, “…is there.”
Swarms of kids climbed ladders, then negotiated a timber maze. They bounced on a limp trampoline and shot though the elephant slide - a giant, winding drainpipe with a window.
The comment from the customers: “Eeeeeeeeaaaayaaaa!”
The air tinged with a faint, woody smell rang with the treble of pint-sized laughter. That, and a tinkling rendition of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
The organ-pipe-like chimes were unveiled by Doug Eastwood, city parks director. He pulled yellow tape away from the tubes and let a baby Bach go at it. The noise never stopped.
“It’s great!” said mom Teri Nevins, regarding the squirmy spectacle. “I wish it wasn’t so busy. I’d go play.”
A few teenagers did sneak in. And so did a classful of fifth-graders. A boy with a mohawk tried out the climbing bars. An invisible wave rocked the toy boat a little girl steered.
Marc Matthew, though, was too tired to skipper. The 10-year-old wore a toolbelt as big as he was - and his feet were killing him.
“I helped out - I got to nail stuff in,” Marc said, taking a breather on a bench. “And then today, we got to finish some of the playground to put the last details on it … and you get dirty a lot after you’re out there working.”
Yes, there were a few things left to do. A section painted like blue water with a white spray still needed more fish fastened to it. But the dolphin was too low, while super minnow was getting serious air.
“The dolphin should be leaping above the foam!” Tekverk called to Jan Fay, who climbed a ladder to consider the fishy dilemma.
It all had to be perfect.
For 5-year-old Adam Marfice, it was more than that. He darted from behind a fence picket, then climbed over it - then ZING! - he was off in a sprint. Then into some kind of tunnel. Or is it more of a house?
His mom, Jeanne Marfice, said she didn’t know either.
“Kids will make it whatever they want to make it.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo