David Slone
Times-Union
WARSAW — Kiddieland was built at Central Park next to the pavilion in 1986, but almost 40 years later a couple of new features have been added that the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department has never had before.
In an interview before a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department Superintendent Larry Plummer said,
“This is our third set of playground equipment that we’ve had in this spot. It’s a climber. It’s the first poured-in-place surfacing that we’ve had in the park system. It’s an ADA-accessible material, and it’s the first ADA merry-go-round we’ve ever had in the park system. You can wheel a wheelchair right in and spin around.”
He said the playground equipment has a lot of climbing aspects to it, similar to the old piece of playground equipment that was there that was outdated.
“This (has) new features to it, and is just another good amenity to Kiddieland,” Plummer said.
The equipment replacement was part of the parks department’s five-year master plan.
“It was due for a replacement. It was 22 years old, I believe, so we try to get 20 years out of our playground and then replace it. Keep our standards up on our playgrounds,” he said.
As other pieces of playground equipment come up for replacement in the master plan down the road, Plummer said the new equipment and surfacing at Kiddieland could be a blueprint for those.
Twenty-some years ago, the parks department began their equipment replacement schedule at McKinley Park, Kerr Park, Beyer Park, Rarick Park and now Kiddieland.
The department is taking a year off replacing playground equipment in 2026 as there’s nothing 20 years old currently in the park system, Plummer said. The schedule starts all over again in 2027.
Funding for the playground equipment comes out of the parks department’s annual operating budget.
Installation of the new playground equipment at Kiddieland was all done in-house this past summer, except for the poured-in-place surfacing.
“We actually removed the old playground, and then once we received the new playground the crew started. It was all installed with in-house personnel. The only thing that was done by contractor was the poured-in-place, which we had never used before. We had done tiles that we had laid before, but the poured-in-place is a little different procedure. We saw how it was done, so maybe in the future we can do it ourself, but we wanted to see how it was done and how it holds up over the winters,” Plummer said.
Years ago, he said they were leery about the poured-in-place holding up with the freezes and thaws of winter, but now he thinks they have it refined enough to be a pretty good product.
“I’m just proud of my crew. It saved us a ton of funds being able to do this in-house and just very proud of my crew for all their hard work and effort,” Plummer said.
