PORT ANGELES — A volunteer committee has raised $28,542 in private donations for a state-of-the-art playground at Shane Park, committee president Janet Young said.
The city of Port Angeles has also committed $60,000 toward the $130,000 equipment, bringing the total to $88,542.
Ed Upton and Bob Fowler of the Peninsula Dream Machines car club presented committee Vice President Amy Billings with a plaque and about $3,700 worth of checks Tuesday.
The checks came from entry fees and donations from the Dream Machines’ car show held at the park Sept. 25.
Family fun days
Billings said the committee also raised about $1,200 at its inaugural Old-Fashioned Family Fun Days, which was held alongside the car show until a rainstorm drove away the crowds.
Fun Days featured traditional games like a tug-of-war, a three-legged race, an egg toss, face-painting, a bake sale and a dunk tank.
“From the start, we wanted to do something for the kids,” Billings said. “We’re going to do it now every year.”
The amount raised doesn’t include a pending $10,000 donation from Peninsula Bottling Co., which was presented to Young and other committee members in the form of an oversized check last week.
The city has also applied for a $93,000 grant from the state Recreation and Conservation Office to cover some of the installation costs and a paved, wheelchair-accessible walkway from the parking lot on Eighth Street to the 111-foot-by-57-foot play area on the Sixth Street side of the park.
Climbing apparatus
The playground will feature several slides, climbing areas, swings and a safety surface.
City Parks Superintendent Corey Delikat recently learned that the grant application ranks No. 4 out of 12 on a state list.
“That was exciting news,” Delikat said Tuesday. “I was very pleased with that.”
Shane Park was named after Young and Fowler’s son, Shane Fowler, who died at age 9 after a construction mishap when the park was being built in 1973.
Billings said there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony when the park finally opens.
Meanwhile, the committee will continue to hold fundraisers to complete the dream.
A bowling fundraiser is planned for later this fall. Dates have not been set.
Donations for the playground equipment, with checks made out to the Kiwanis Foundation, can be mailed to Shane Park Playground, P.O. Box 1064, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
