Upgrading Play County Wide

Thanks to matching funds from GameTime, 11 parks in Shawnee County, Kansas are about to receive a major playground upgrade. More than a half-million dollars in playground equipment has been acquired by the county to build new playgrounds designed by Cunningham Recreation, GameTime's exclusive representative in Kansas. 

“I’m sure they’ll have tremendous impact on thousands of kids and families,” said Justin Long of Cunningham Recreation. "We've worked with the community to design great new playgrounds everyone can enjoy."

Commissioners, who previously made plans to spend nearly $300,000 to buy playground equipment using excess revenue the county has on hand, learned Oct. 7 that the parks and recreation department was eligible to apply for grant funding to help acquire more. Commissioners voted 3-0 to apply for the grant.

According to parks and recreation director, Tim Laurent, the new playgrounds will be installed at the following parks:

• Austin Park, 2300 S.E. Jefferson.

• Central Park, 1534 S.W. Clay.

• Children’s Park, 600 S.W. MacVicar Ave.

• Collins Park, 1400 S.W. Collins.

• Eastborough Park, 300 S.E. Arter.

• Eastgate Park, 640 S.E. Hackberry Drive.

• Gwendolyn Brooks Park, 3691 S.W. Topeka Blvd.

• Hughes Park, 725 S.W. Orleans Ave.

• Major Palm Park, 1815 S.W. 37th.

• Meadowood Park, 1850 N.W. Lyman Road.

• Willow Park, 1800 S.W. 6th Ave