After a 5-month delay due to COVID-19 restrictions, new playground equipment will be installed at the City’s Martin Luther King Jr. Park this Saturday, September 19th.
“Our hope is to have the playground completed by the end of September and, when the Yakima Health District allows playgrounds to be used again, children will be able to enjoy the new and exciting playground,” said Parks and Recreation Manager Ken Wilkinson.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held in February, with plans to install park improvements in April. Those improvements, spearheaded by Downtown Yakima Rotary Past President Eric Silvers, are together valued at more than $160,000. They include a new 576 square-foot picnic shelter, which has been constructed, as well as more security lighting and new playground equipment.
“I grew up in this park, played with my friends, learned to swim and went to school in that neighborhood,” said Silvers, who chose the park as the site for the new playground. “This is my neighborhood for three generations. This is a way to give back to my community.”
The new playground equipment replaces an older, small playground.
Members from all three Yakima Rotary clubs, along with Yakima Parks and Recreation maintenance staff and representatives from Play Creation will work throughout the day on Saturday to assemble the playground.
All those working on the playground equipment will follow social-distancing protocols that are required by the state due to the pandemic.
Yakima Downtown Rotary, Sunrise Rotary, Southwest Rotary and Rotary Trust contributed to the improvements planned at Martin Luther King Jr. Park. The park is located at East Race Street and South 9th Street.
“We are grateful for a generous community that gives back and helps create improvements to our parks,” said Wilkinson. “The Yakima Parks & Recreation Division is able to do much more because of great partners like our Rotary clubs. Eric Silvers’ leadership has been so key to making these needed improvements possible.”
Visit https://yakimaparks.com for more about Yakima Parks and Recreation programs.