HT Custer Park may become one of the most used parks in the city.
It has a splash pad, a ball field, a rain and butterfly garden, and, now, a new playground area that the ribbon was cut on Friday by the city and the Galesburg Area Chamber of Commerce.
“We installed a brand new bathroom, a bicycle safety training trail for the kids to learn how to bike safely around town, brand new playground equipment with a poured-in-place (rubber) surface,” said Don Miles, City of Galesburg Parks and Recreation Director. “There’s no more wood chips, or sand, or anything. So, it’s a safer surface for the kids to play on.
That rubber surface is for safety like other parks, and the playground is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act like other parks. But this playground’s features are a bit more important than that.
“Being able to use a ramp for playground equipment, really allows for children with that type of disability to participate and be part of the play structure, in a way that they are able to still navigate through the play equipment,” said Amy Wilson, landscape architect with the Farnsworth Group, who has been working with the city on playground upgrades at HT Custer and Lancaster Parks. She says this is compared to other playground equipment where you could pull mobility equipment up next to the playground and have children be able to use it that way.
Wilson said upgrades to Lancaster Park, by the way, are almost complete.
At HT Custer, there are also QR codes on signs because the city wants to know how you feel about the equipment; so you can scan it with your smartphone, and take a short survey.
The HT Custer upgrades were made with a $400,000 Open Space and Land Acquisition grant from the State of Illinois, a $400,000 match from the city, and $117,845 from Illinois Parks and Recreation Association, Playcore, a playground equipment supplier, and GameTime, also a playground and outdoor equipment supplier.
