New life for old play grounds.

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"Mommy, go park?" That would be Avery King's excited reaction if she were to pass the playground at Roy Pope Memorial Park in Woodfin, North Carolina. Avery loved playgrounds, and the King family car would have been parked for a long time at Avery's Little Corner, the playground refurbished in memory of the toddler run down in a parking lot in 2006. The transformation of the site--with a castle and dragon theme--was a rags-to-riches conversion that Avery, who adored princesses, would have dreamed about. Now Avery's Little Corner is the queen of playgrounds in the small town.

By pooling town money, cash contributions, and donations of labor and materials from businesses, the Woodfin playground is grander in design and scale than it would have been without the partnership. When money is tight, cities and towns join forces with the private, corporate, and nonprofit sectors and do more in-house to create playgrounds that otherwise might not be refurbished or that would be more modest. Collaborations may become more common as some localities around the United States face ongoing playground maintenance with less money and fewer people and as plans for additional playgrounds are suspended.

Officials in Woodfin, in western North Carolina, wanted to renovate the playground eventually. "But the opportunity arose for us to work with the King family and do something bigger than what we had planned," says town administrator Jason Young. After demolition of the old playground--rusty equipment that dated to the 1970s--up went two play castles beside a dragon climbing unit, slides, a musical station, interactive games, a sandbox, a toddler area, swings, and misters. Woodfin's biggest playground opened in August 2007.

The playground has something else the old one didn't: accessibility. Some of the play stations and swings at Avery's Little Corner are accessible to children with disabilities. "Our community has a real drive toward inclusiveness," Young says. "The biggest factor on our end was making sure we built something that was accessible to all the kids in our community."

Time was another factor. Town officials wanted the site ready for an annual Labor Day celebration. Anita King, Avery's mother, helped with design, equipment selection, and other details. In less than a year, she and friends raised about $90,000 in cash and grants for the playground.

"We received so much support from the community that we wanted to give something back,"' says King, who lives with her husband, Tony, in nearby Weaverville. "It's a way to honor Avery, and to encourage parents to spend time with their children."

Woodfin resident Coral Darby celebrated her younger daughter's birthday at the playground pavilion in March. She takes her two girls to the playground regularly. "I was so pleasantly surprised with what they'd done," she says. "The finished product is just beautiful, clean and well-maintained."

Beyond simple fun, the playground is a source of community esteem. "It really exemplifies the feeling of a wholesome family area conducive to bringing up children," Darby continues. "I'm really proud to be a Woodfin resident."

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Some 200 miles southwest in Atlanta, residents of the Peoplestown neighborhood have their own reasons to be proud. Refurbishments to the playground at D.L. Stanton Park have transformed the site from a clay pit to a gathering place for families. As in Woodfin, a public-private partnership produced a playground with more impact.

Built over an unofficial dump, the entire park was excavated about 10 years ago after methane gas from buried trash vented through the ground and exploded in the original playground area, injuring a child. A new playground was installed in 2005, but vandals set fire to it and destroyed it soon after it was constructed, and the city had no funding designated to replace it. The site sat empty for about two years until residents approached city officials about a renovation. "The city challenged us to get enough strong community and financial support to build a new playground," says William Teasley, chairman of Friends of Peoplestown Parks, "and the city agreed to help with money and labor."

Teasley and others organized the nonprofit to raise money for the playground and collected $10,000 in two years, with donated materials from Home Depot and equipment and labor from the national nonprofit KaBOOM!, which helps communities build playgrounds.

Teasley's group was involved in selecting and installing equipment as well as in other project details. A city crew prepared the site, and on the day of the build about 50 residents assisted KaBOOM! with installing slides, a jungle gym, spring toys, and other play equipment elements. A rubberized safety surface, made partly of recycled components, was installed later. In all, the city of Atlanta spent about $60,000 for purchasing materials, removing the ruined playground, and installing new surfacing.

The rest of the D. L. Stanton Park was undeveloped when the playground was designed. As part of the process, city staff consulted the community about plans, including where to locate a ball field. "Part of the challenge was confirming that this was the appropriate place for the playground, given that we were still developing a master plan," says Paul Taylor, director of Atlanta's Office of Park Design.

The renovated playground, which opened in October 2007, is the first phase of park improvements. "It's a big deal," says Teasley, whose two children enjoy the site. "It showed we could actually initiate the project ourselves, and it's the beginning of what's going to be a great park for the community"

The playground has energized the neighborhood. "It makes an incredible amount of difference because it becomes a gathering place for neighbors," Teasley says. "And it provides an opportunity for recreation--primarily for kids--but also for young adults and others who play basketball or sit and talk while children use the playground. When it's warm, there are kids out there all the time."

Visitors to the refurbished playground at Three Lakes Park and Nature Center near Richmond, Virginia, are enjoying a similar experience, and it's just what officials at the County of Henrico Division of Recreation and Parks had hoped for.

The county set goals of installing better equipment and surfacing and incorporating an accessible design while holding down costs by doing as much as possible internally. Then crews got to work removing the deteriorating wooden playground and preparing the surface for installers and, later, for landscaping. Jeff Chenault, facility and grounds maintenance superintendent, acted as general contractor. Along with the recreation and park division's special programs supervisor Dee Couvelha and other staffers, he discussed the playground design with the equipment providers and chose equipment.

Blending with the theme of the park's nature center and aquarium, the playground features earth colors; a pond and lily pad image on the recycled rubber surface, which replaced the old wood chips; frog, turtle, and raccoon structures for kids to play on; climbing surfaces with fossils; and canopies with a leafy look. The play structure also includes telescopes and a drum circle with percussive instruments.

Couvelha, a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, offered advice on accessibility and inclusive design. The old playground had no ramps, but the new facility--completed in February 2009--is fully accessible, including swings as well as ramps on the play structure. Henrico County spent about $320,000 to renovate the playground, but the play value is priceless. "Kids can do many things simultaneously" says Couvelha, "and when the playground is accessible, we're stretching that play value for all the kids and making it fun for everybody."

Joan Robertson, who takes her grandchildren to the playground, appreciates the new surface. "At the old playground, rainwater collected under the swings, and the kids' shoes got wet" she says. "This way it's much easier on all of us." The swings for bigger children, including her 10-year-old grandson, are also a good addition. "The community just needs someplace for the children to go and enjoy the outdoors," Robertson continues. "It's important for children to learn how to go outside and enjoy the natural things in life."

That's what Coral Darby's daughters do at Avery's Little Corner in North Carolina. To Darby, the playground is more than the equipment. "It has a special place in my heart" she says. "I enjoy seeing so many children loving it, as I'm sure Avery would have."

Avery's mother takes her daughter, Gracie, and son, Aiden, to the playground regularly. Gracie particularly enjoys swinging. Avery's favorite swing was a tire swing, popular with kids at the refurbished playground. "There's always somebody on it when we go to the park," Anita King says.

But what she likes most at the playground has nothing to do with the equipment. It's going on warm sunny days and finding the playground so crowded that there's no place to park.