‘Friends of Itasca State Park’ Holds Ribbon Cutting for New Playground Equipment

The group Friends of Itasca State Park has spent the last five years planning and fundraising for new playground equipment at a site originally built 25 years ago, and last Saturday, organizers held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the end of construction and the opening of all the new pieces to the public.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to planning and fundraising for new playground equipment, the Friends of Itasca State Parks pressed on and has now finished four equipment installments and a new accessible rubber ground surface.

“It’s said that kids … today spend too much time on technology,” said Roberta Anderson, a member of Friends of Itasca State Park and the group’s Playground Committee Chairperson. “There’s a nature void with them, and nature has a lot of impact on kids in terms of calming them down, getting the exercise, just being more healthy. And it’s so good for them to be out in a playground.”

The entire project cost just over $146,000, with $92,000 coming from funds raised by the Friends of Itasca State Park. The rubber ground surface was covered by Itasca State Park itself.

“It’s just heartwarming,” said Anderson. “What could be better than seeing the joy and the laughter from kids?”

“It is just really exciting to see it in place, have the kids be playing on it, and be able to celebrate today,” added Itasca State Park Integrated Visitor Services Coordinator Heather Funk.

Four new pieces—an AeroGlider, Unity Dome, Cozy Cocoon, and accessible swing—have all now made the park their home. The most important aspect of every new addition to the playground is that it will be accessible to children of different abilities.

“It’s only right that we should consider fun and safety of all kids instead of having them stand on the sidelines and not being able to participate,” Anderson stated. “So we wanted it to be all-inclusive.”

One of the new pieces of equipment, the Cozy Cocoon, is a spinning dome with tactile pieces inside of it for sensory play. It can also provide kids a quiet, safe space on the playground.

“We have a very diverse group of people that come to visit Itasca State Park,” explained Funk. “We have up to 500,000 visitors a year. And so that brings all different types of people, and it’s just important to have different types of play experiences for all of our unique visitors.”

All of the new pieces are ready to be played on, but Itasca State Park has future phases of development for the playground planned, including bringing the swing set across the bike path so it is with the rest of the equipment. The park also plans to eventually create a nature playground connected to the swimming beach.