PORT ANGELES — Volunteers will soon get another chance to complete the Generation II Dream Playground at Erickson Playfield.
A two-day community build has been scheduled for Friday, July 9, and Saturday, July 10, to finish tasks left undone by Sunday’s end of the six-day build.
In addition, an informal work session is slated for 7 a.m. to noon this upcoming Saturday.
Steve Methner, president of the Dream Playground Foundation, said Saturday’s event is aimed primarily for volunteers who are skilled or semi-skilled in carpentry and have their own tools. It would focus on fencing, benches, ornamentation and other construction elements.
A second two-day build is slated to be a shortened version of the main build.
A shortage of volunteers, combined with a record-breaking heat wave in the last days of construction, led to the project coming up short.
“It’s become super clear that it was really the heat that torpedoed us Friday and Saturday,” Methner said. “We formulated a plan, and we really want to capitalize on the enthusiasm and the momentum we have going.
“We’ve heard a lot of great feedback and excitement from people in the community and also from a lot of people who really wanted to pitch in and either had to leave early because of the heat or couldn’t turn out because of the heat.”
Methner estimated about 400 to 500 volunteers took part in the playground project, many filling multiple shifts during the six-day schedule.
Although the major components of the playground are substantially complete, many elements were left undone when the schedule ran out Sunday evening.
The Generation II Dream Playground is replacing the original playground built by volunteers in 2002. That mostly wooden playground was razed earlier this year because of maintenance and safety issues.
Plans were developed in 2020 to replace the original Dream Playground with a newer version that addressed safety and maintenance concerns. Construction of the new play area was delayed from 2020 because of COVID-19.
And, like its predecessor, Generation II was designed from suggestions for features desired by Port Angeles school children.
The new playground will have clear sight lines for parents to keep their eyes on their children. It also will feature an improved play surface, replacing the former wood chips that could conceal hypodermic needles and other dropped objects with artificial turf developed specifically for playgrounds.
Children will be able to use the playground once the synthetic grass play surface is installed sometime this month.
The nonprofit Dream Playground Foundation raised almost $600,000 for construction with dozens of contractors donating labor and equipment.
Signups for the weekend of July 9-10 will be available soon at padreamplayground.org.
Methner said he is optimistic the playground will be finished in the upcoming sessions.
“I have every reason to think we’ll get this done by Saturday, the 10th,” he said. “It will look and feel a lot like last week, but hopefully not as hot.”
