A pre-teen playground to be built for summer use
REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI) - The City of Rexburg will have a new playground this summer. This new playground will have larger equipment to encourage the pre-teen and early teenage aged kids to the city's nature park off 5th West and 3rd North.
The two week construction project is expected to start Monday, May 2 as recent and projected weather for the week of April 27 has delayed the project.
"The city of Rexburg had the opportunity to acquire some park equipment at a discounted price, and it turned out this park equipment would be appropriate for older children, probably eight to ten to the tween and maybe early teenagers. And it really kind of filled a niche in of what we're trying to offer in our parks," Rexburg economic developer Daniel Torres said.
Torres said the niche they're trying to fill across all parks in the city is "trying to make our parks accessible or appropriate for all ages so that families could come to the parks and have something for a mom, dad, kids, older kids to do. N ature park where the playground equipment going has a lot of amenities. It has a nature walking past. It has a pickleball court, it has Frisbee golf, or disc golf I guess, is what they call it. And it has a small tot, a toddler playground. But it really is kind of missing something for those kids in the middle."
He says while Porter park in downtown Rexburg has the historical and nostalgic feel to the city as the city has grown its become more of an urban park and a hang out for the college students. So having a park that is "a place where families can come and be somewhat a little bit more undisturbed and be able to focus on play is a great opportunity for the community."
Unfortunately for Rexburg, the issues with shipping and the supply chain delayed the installation of the project by a year. Recent weather has led to the delay of project as well. That being said, it will be a quick turn around for kids to have all sorts of fun on play ground fun, games such as tag or "groundies" (also known as grounders) are going to be fairly accessible.
"We're told that this will be about a two week project," Torres said. "They'll be constructing and assembling some of it here at the site and then taking it over to Nature Park after that we're hoping to hold a kind of a grand opening and both the community out there and really make make the most of this opportunity."
Torres also emphasized the playground will have disability accessible equipment to be used as well. He says all will be welcome to the park as it will have something for everyone to enjoy.
