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Photo by Emma Delk Local children have been enjoying the features and play elements at the Wheeling Park Playground's new play system since the space opened on Memorial Day weekend.
Wheeling Park’s Stifel Playground has been transformed into the largest and most inclusive in the state through the $1.2 million renovations completed by Memorial Day weekend for families to enjoy.
Local children have used the space’s new slides, swing sets and other features since the park’s soft opening during the first Funfest Friday on May 24. After letting in the line of kids waiting to enter the updated playground for the first time, Wheeling Park Manager Nat Goudy has yet to see a lull in the crowds of parents and children.
“We have parents and kids showing up as early as 6:30 in the morning to play when the park doesn’t even open until 7,” said Goudy. “I heard a kid earlier while his mother was picking him up to leave crying and she told him, ‘Don’t worry, honey, we’ll be back tomorrow.'”
The new features of the playground that children have been eager to enjoy include a sensory wave ramp, interactive educational panels, shaded gathering spaces, quiet decompression areas, braille panels, rock climbers and musical instruments.
Improvements have also been made to classic playground elements at the park, including swingsets, slides and seesaws. Oglebay Foundation CEO Eriks Janelsins described the updates as making the space “brighter and cleaner than it ever did before.”
The $1.2 million renovations at the playground were funded by the support of the Land & Water Conservation Fund, the Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and the Stamp family.
One of the main focuses of the park’s updates was making the space more inclusive. Elements such as a wheelchair-accessible rocker and an inclusive see-saw have been added to allow children of all capabilities to play. The park’s main play system includes wheelchair-accessible ramps so handicapped children can enjoy the equipment. Handicap-accessible swings, where children can be transferred from a wheelchair and strapped into the swing, have also been added.
Another feature of the updates is an ADA-compliant dedicated parking lot attached to the playground, which increases accessibility by providing an open path to the playground for those with disabilities.
With these updates, the playground has earned the title of a National Demonstration Site for Inclusion from commercial playground equipment manufacturer GameTime. This distinction means the space has become one of the company’s premier test sites for new playground equipment.
The company will conduct a series of surveys to determine how guests use and respond to new activities at the site. This information will inform how they design equipment in the future.
GameTime has already begun collecting data on the park. Janelsins explained that QR codes at the playground can be scanned to provide feedback on how visitors use the space, and this input will inform how playgrounds are built “all over the country.”
The park also includes educational aspects, including panels depicting animals children can identify on other equipment. Informational panels on pollinators that visit the playground, such as bees, are also present with life-sized honeycombs for children to climb on.
“These educational displays have been incorporated but play outside is so helpful in general to kids’ development as it makes them more thoughtful, increases empathy and encourages curiosity and creativity,” noted Janelsins. “There are more pops of color here than ever before, and the integration of all these pieces means that no matter your ability, you can enjoy it.”
An artificial turf space has been added to allow children to “create their own games and be more creative,” explained Janelsins. A color wheel and braille panels are other new pieces of equipment children can incorporate into their play.
Other park elements put a new spin on classic playground equipment. A favorite addition to the park of Janelsins and Goudy is the “expression swings,” a normal swing set seat for parents connected to a bucket-shaped swing for babies and toddlers.
“They are called expression swings because parents and children can see each other’s facial expressions while riding them,” explained Janelsins. “An aspect of development for kids is looking at an adult’s eyes, and it has been great seeing families enjoy that.”
Eight nature spaces are also included in the park, with Janelsins noting that landscape planning has been performed to incorporate the surrounding natural environment into the park.
Shade canopies that cover areas of turf and play equipment are another addition to the playground. Janelsins joked that the hot slides parents can remember burning their bottoms on are no longer.
Though hot slides can now be avoided, Janelsins explained that the spirit of the park that parents and grandparents can recall playing on is still present today, citing that the general layout of the playground remains the same after the updates.
Janelins added that the park’s main shelter, which parents can also remember if they attended day camps, remains the same “just with a fresh coat of blue paint.”
“It still feels like Wheeling park and true to what it has been for almost 100 years,” said Janelsins. “It just feels a little brighter and cleaner than before.”
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