Riverside Park Playground Fundraising Begins September 7 in La Grande
By Garrett Christensen on Wednesday, September 6th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – Back in January, the City of La Grande announced that the iconic, but now twenty years old, Riverside Park Playground was slated for replacement. With a design selected and a committee onboard, fundraising for the project will begin September 7 during Celebrate La Grande, hosted, appropriately, at Riverside Park.
According to committee member Sharon Langdon, this first round of fundraising will focus on bringing the public up to speed on the project. The committee will have a booth set up with free information packets including the design of the new playground, who the major sponsors of the project are, how the public can donate, and what kind of support is needed.
Currently, the project is starting out with an initial injection of $65,000 in donations from La Grande Parks and Rec, a local community group, and another private donation. In total, the playground will cost approximately $650,000, with the committee needing to raise roughly $260,000 by next spring in order to be eligible for grants to cover the remaining costs.
Going forward, the committee will be reaching out to local businesses and offering for them to sponsor individual pieces of equipment on the new playground. Community members are, of course, free to provide direct monetary donations at any time. The actual design and construction for the project is being handled by Ross Recreation Equipment and will feature a new playground design that differs greatly from the current one. A highlight of this new design includes a “SuperNetplex,” the largest accessible slide tower in the industry according to the design team.
Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2025. For additional information and donation links, visit the project website at https://lagrandeplayground.org/design/. The project booth will be set up during Celebrate La Grande, September 7, from 5-7 p.m. at Riverside Park.
Learn more about this at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551243021432
