PORT ANGELES — A towering new playground will open at Shane Park just in time for spring, Port Angeles Parks and Recreation Director Corey Delikat said.
The city is installing a state-of-the-art play set for the west side park between Sixth and Eighth streets and G and E streets.
City officials hope to have a ribbon-cutting ceremony when recreational softball tournaments begin in April.
“The structure is about 90 percent complete,” Delikat said.
“We’re getting really close.”
The playground is the result of a two-year community fundraising effort led by the mother of the boy for whom the park was named.
The Shane Park Playground Committee raised more than $70,000 through a series of fundraisers to match a $100,000 commitment from the city.
Committee President Janet Young, who lives near the park, has long envisioned a playground for children who seem bored when their parents are playing softball.
The 6,000-square-foot play set will replace a small yellow slide.
Shane Park was named for Young’s son, Shane Fowler, who died at age 9 after an accident at the park when it was being built in 1973.
Crews began excavating the site last summer.
When the weather improves, crews will pour the concrete slabs that will be covered by soft rubber tiles.
The tiles will protect children playing on the slides, towers, monkey bars, climbing wall, swing set and upside-down merry-go-round.
“We just need some warm weather,” Delikat said.
The committee held more than a dozen fundraisers, including community meals, bowling parties, dice games and a pickleball marathon.
Donations for the park were solicited through the Port Angeles Kiwanis Club.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345 ext. 5072 or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
