Community playground completed

By MARY L. KIRBY

Sunday evening, volunteers at the Gilmer Community Playground let their children have the first visit to the castle and adventures which had emerged from the grassland at Yamboree Park since Wednesday. The official dedication date will be publicized at a later time.

Over 400 workers from every walk of life had poured their efforts over the five days by placing boards, spreading concrete, gravel, and wood chips, in a weaving dance of purposeful activity as two towers, a suspension bridge, rope ladder, slides, rings and other devices of fun came together.

Sunburned bankers and lawyers, lumbermen and clerks, housewives and grandparents, carpenters, laborers, welders, students and sandwich makers are resting up this week from their intense efforts since 8 a.m. Wednesday morning when the playground construction began. After working 12-hour days under the large white tent and in the blazing sun, the volunteers shaped boards of various sizes with saws, routers, and sanders into the components of a fantasy land of fun.

As the sun dipped toward the horizon Sunday, the volunteers of the Gilmer Community Playground delighted in the sound of the laughter of children scrambling over their new creation.

Appropriately, Kade and Kaylin Haba were the first children down the big slide, since it was their mother, Robyn Haba, who joined with Lisa Smith and others to propose 18 months ago that Gilmer recruit the assistance of Leathers and Associates from Ithaca, N.Y. to design and direct the building of a playground. Children from Harmony, Union Hill and Gilmer contributed ideas and Leathers turned those dreams into plans.

The first playground by Bob Leathers was designed in 1971 and since then, 1,600 playgrounds have gone up in all 50 states and 7 countries with the assistance of personnel from Leathers. Ore City, Longview and Tatum are among the neighboring communities with a playground designed in the community with Leathers’ assistance.

When the playground was opened for the first trial run, Mike and Robyn Haba cradled newborn Kinley as Kade and Kaylin climbed the steps of the central towers. In the distance, other volunteers put finishing touches on the swings for the older children.

Jason, Carol, and Johnathen Bass gathered with Jayke and Jantz for a family portrait under the arch denoting the Tot Lot for children ages 2-5 with adult supervision. Jason carved the title out with a router after finishing the top beam of the arch.

While all the volunteers were critical to the construction, trustees from the jail in their orange jump suits worked long and hard all five days of construction. Without their anonymous assistances, especially during the heat of Friday and Saturday, the playground would not have reached its successful conclusion.

Young women from the ALERT program concentrated on the Tot Lot Friday, and probationers needing community service hours showed up to help. Some came intending one shift and came back for more. Others cut trips short to be back for the conclusion Sunday.

Benches, the sound wall and the tic tac toe games will be added later from materials which have been prepared.

Sunday was a busy day in the Gilmer community, so many people found themselves with multiple commitments. William Taylor and his wife Penny came from the reception at the Historic Upshur Museum to help finish the project, while Dr. Cherrie Nazzal-Hobbs still had on make-up from performing in Come Blow Your Horn as she helped put the swings together. Others attending the two events raked wood chips and added other finishing touches to the project.


Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
VOLUNTEERS SWARM over the Gilmer Community Playground in Gilmer City-Yamboree Park Sunday afternoon as the 5-day project comes to a climax. Leathers and Associates consultant Lee Achin, turquoise shirt left, instructs a volunteer while Bailey White, right, and Cari Traylor (red and white stripe shirt) rake wood chips. A load of sand for the sand box arrives in the loader driven by Eddy Coleman and others assemble the swings and the fencing around the Tot Lot.

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