Los Alamos cuts the ribbon on two new playgrounds
Boomtown’s trying something new: short audio stories.
Sit back, take a listen, and please let us know what you think.
More photos and a transcript of the story are below.
Transcript:
Group of kids:
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Megan Hesselink:
Los Alamos County cut the ribbon on two newly rebuilt playgrounds this week, 37th Street Play Lot in Los Alamos and Rocket Park in White Rock. We stopped by to see what the excitement was all about. Wendy Parker, Los Alamos County Park’s superintendent, led the effort to understand what the community wanted to see in the updated playgrounds.
Wendy Parker:
This was a little over a two-year process from the beginning part of planning to what you see today and we had many many community meetings and feedback on what structures you want to see. Our director Cory Styron actually went to the schools and took boards with him with thoughts and all kinds of good things. What colors? What do you want? Do you want a big slide? A little slide? Do you want a little merry-go-round? What are you looking for that would make you go to the playground and really have fun? And this is the result of that. So the kids participated, our community members participated, and we had great, great consultants that did a wonderful job of making sure that what the kids said came to life on paper. And there it is.
Megan:
Emily Rogers led the effort to turn the community feedback into final playground designs.
Emily Rogers:
I’m an associate landscape architect with Anthropopulous Design and Planning. We’re a landscape architecture and community planning firm in Albuquerque. And we did the design of the playgrounds from systematic design through community engagement and sessions where community people came and voted on what kinds of elements they wanted. And so that feedback all went directly into the final product. The equipment obviously is a real kind of instant gratification and we’re excited for everybody to use it. Trees that we’ve planted here are the kind of thing that take a lot of patience. You know, that’s a five-year, 10-year, 20-year project. So it’s one of the hardest parts of my job is the incredibly long time frame of some parts of the project.
Megan:
For Craig and Rachel Wehner, whose company did the actual construction on both playgrounds, it was more than just another landscaping job.
Craig Wehner:
These particular projects were really special to my wife and I, Rachel, because I grew up playing at Rocket Park when I was in elementary school and before. And she grew up playing at 37th Street Park. And then our kids played at both of these parks. For us, these were partially passion projects. They were really fun to see that legacy go. On our side, it was wonderful to do a project in the winter and then have all that opportunity to employ 12 to 18 additional people to put these parts together. I appreciate it so much when the county invests in their facilities with a local business that can then provide jobs locally. It’s a great win for the community.
Megan:
But really, we’re Boomtown. We wanted to get the real story, which wouldn’t come from the adults. We tagged along with the kids to see what they thought.
Megan: What’s your favorite part of the park? What’s your favorite part?
Kid 1: Orange!
Megan: The orange!
Megan: What’s your favorite part of the park?
Kid 2: Red!
Megan: The red parts? Amazing!
Megan: What’s your favorite part of the park?
Kid 3: The slide and the climbing thing.
Kid 4: My favorite part is the slide because we were playing families and we went together.
Megan: We even found a grown-up who was having a good time.
Megan: Ms. Rodriguez, what’s your favorite part of the park?
Alexis Rodriguez: I love that the kids are having such a great time moving their bodies.
Megan:
Both new playgrounds are now open to the public. Check out the photos and other community stories on our website, BoomtownLosAlamos.org. Reporting for Boomtown, this is Megan Hesselink.