Forest River

So a friend of my wife called to ask for donations to fund the new Forest River Park playground. She says that they are hoping to build a new playground next summer, 2009. Here's what it currently looks like, and I don't think it's that bad either.

Well, I better put that in here shouldn't I? I'll put up more information about it as I get it.

Bessie Baker Park

A long time ago, Lauren commented that Landscape Structure's newest 2008 playground setup, called the EVO, could be seen at Bessie Baker Playground in Beverly, located off Colon St. which is off Route 1A, Cabot St.

She was RIGHT!!

A full view of the partial EVO playstructure.

A rear view of the structure. Are those bunny ears in the right hand corner?

Bessie Baker had redone their playground and replaced their old wooden playground with the EVO, or part of it. It is a very fun looking playground and it is the new thinking in playground design, exploratory play. The idea is that there is not ONE way to play on the structure but many exploratory ways.

The draw back is safety. Children can climb ALL OVER this thing including on top and over the bars. BUT, I think this is GREAT!!! I have mentioned it before and posted links to articles discussing the unidirectional play that current structures provide and it is boring. It looks like some playground equipment companies are rethinking design. HURRAY!!

With that said, I am sad to report that it was not ALL that fun. Some extraneous stuff that make the structure LOOK cool but does not have a lot of play value. The web netting was fun and the "stand and spin" was fast enough to get me nauseous in just 4 revolutions. The middle section has some plastic, hanging, crawl throughs (think hanging tires in older playgrounds), which look cool and are moderately fun.

Than there were these completely useless hand-peddle things. You sat at it and use your hands to peddle. But all the peddling does nothing. You don't spin, move up or down, swivel or anything. Nothing happens. You just peddle. Very Zen, but not that fun.

My oldest son rated this playground three stars. I had to agree. If you're close by, definitely stop by and see the cool structure and have a new play experience. But don't be expected to be over WOWed.

Salem Common Update 2

When we last left this story; after working on the design and planning of the Salem Common playground, Parents United of Salem had their design rejected by the Historical Commision and therefore delayed the opening of the playground for this year. Apparently the Commission did not approve of the color scheme and wanted a playground that reflected the history of Salem (ie. sailing, harbor?). Although the commission was invited to the playground process earlier, they opted to wait till final designs were established before commenting (note: no footnote here).

At the last Historical Commission meeting, a NEW, modified Landscape Structure design was presented and . . . approved (image below . . . not of the joyous P.U. of Salem members rejoicing, but of the new design).

The Historical Commission will return on September 3rd to discuss colors and flooring options further, but for the time being are allowed to promote the green/khaki color scheme.

Also at the meeting, City Counselor Mike Sosnowski was given pictures of the existing damages on our current playground. Counselor Sosnowski said he was not aware of these necessary repairs and he will see that they are fixed while waiting for the new playground.

The hope is have the new playground installed July 2009. Thanks to Kelly Fouhey for the recent update and image.

Stay tuned for more info . . .

Salem Common Update

First, I have been trying to get that image for the new design of the Salem Common playground and I have not been very successful. But now it seems, the image is moot.

I was at the common today and I was speaking with my neighbor down the street (I actually just met her . . . kind of sad really that she lived down the street and I have never met her until today) who was at the Parents United of Salem (P.U.S. . . unfortunate acronym) picnic, said that the Salem Common Neighborhood Historical Society suddenly decided to get involved and did not approve of the designs of the new playground. 

They wanted a Maritime theme or something and felt the green modular system was not appropriate. I think they have to start from scratch again. eeeeuuu

Salem Common

The Salem Common playground is still the same. BUT, it is being worked on. I've blogged about before, but I still haven't received a photo of the initial designs. 

Anyhoo, one thing they had done was to remove the broken benches from around the huge maple tree. Well, LUCKILY, they have replaced those benches and they look beautiful!

Thank goodness because that was the only good place to sit and watch your kids.

Ackerman Playground

Julie Z. who purchased a book through my web site also mentioned a great playground in Boxford. Robert M. Ackerman Playground. 

A view of the front entrance.

Very NICE! Similar design to Eagle Nest in Essex, and Action Cove in West Newbury. Mostly wood with lots of nooks and crannies to run and hide in. Althoug

h my now eight-year-old said that there are "not as many long tunnels."

A view from the side.

A view of the inside of the park.

A back view.

The playground is located off Dana road which is off Cahoon Road which is off Topsfield Road, which is Exit 52 on 95.

Well worth the visit.

Rating: Five stars

San Diego Playgrounds

Jennifer D. emailed me with this site for Playgrounds in San Diego County, California.

sdplaygrounds.com

So if you are in San Diego and need to know where some playgrounds are, check it out!

Failed Playdates

So I went to take pictures and see the new playground at the Carroll School in Peabody. I even made it a playdate with one of my son's friends. We went driving around to playgrounds that I needed to update.

Well, I went to the Carroll Savage Park and found that the playground was unchanged. That's because it's NOT the Carroll School, it's the South Memorial School. So we went to this other playground I needed to update, and that was the wrong one too.

All the bad memories from creating the guidebook the first time came rushing back to me. "Are we there yet?" "I'm hot." "I'm dying of thirst." increased by a third child.

Now I know where the Carroll School is, and I'm going to get the rotten picture. And you know what, I'm going to go by myself just in case I'm wrong and get lost . . . which is such a high likelyhood.

Good Beverly Kids

This is a bit older news, but Dylan (10 years old) and Logan (8 years old) Stevens have taken it upon themselves to clean up graffiti from Beverly's playgrounds, one playground at a time this summer.

The brother and sister team were shocked to find graffiti at Obear Park, near the Kernwood Bridge, and proceeded to clean it off with sponges and various cleaners. Beverly patrolman David Costa saw the good citizens and went and restocked their cleaning supplies for them.

The best part is, these kids have inspired others to do the same.

Thank you Dylan and Logan!!!

New Playground in Beverly Coming!

A new playground is planned for the North Beverly Elementary School. What will make this playground EXTRA special is that it will be the second in Beverly, the fourth on the North Shore, that is TOTALLY DISABILITY ACCESSIBLE.

It is said to be similar to structure at Ross Memorial Park in Peabody, below. 

The playground is being built by Boundless Playgrounds. A "national nonprofit dedicated to helping communities create extraordinary barrier-free playgrounds where children, with and without disabilities, can develop essential skills for life as they learn together through play." The playground is hoped to be installed by summer, 2009.

The playground is currently raising funds and tax-deductible donations can be sent to:

North Beverly Playground Fund

North Beverly Elementary School

48 Putnam St

Beverly, MA 01915

The Neo

Here's Play World Systems' newest 2008 addition, The Neo.

It's an oversized electronic game powered with 12 volts.. The Neo can be powered by solar energy, panels not included. 

Their reasoning for this giant-sized, light-up Simon: kids are playing video games indoors, let's have them play video games outdoors.

The Evo

Here's a  Landscape Structures new playground equipment design for 2008. It's called the EVO.

Here's a gallery of the structure

I have always been a HUGE fan of a specific playground manufacturer (and no, I do not get any endorsements from them), KOMPAN. They are not a HUGE player in the US market, but are getting there. But my point is, they have had this type of "freeform", creative play, structure for several years and I have raved about their ability to create unguided, creative play on their structures. My kids RAVE about them as well.

It seems the "big" playground structure companies are beginning to follow suit.

Very cool.

Australian Playground Finder

I found an Australian Playground Finder web site. So if you are ever in Australia with your children, well, here's a great way to have some outdoor fun and enjoy that excellent Aussie weather!

Great Article!

This article appeared in the Boston Globe back in April, 2007, by Drake Bennet.

Back to the Playground article

A great push for more leniency and creative ideas at playgrounds. They site Teardrop Park in New York as a "manifesto on the possibilities of a playground."

It's a long article but an interesting read if you are planning to build a playground.

KaBOOM!

This is a great non-profit organization that deals only with playgrounds, building them, funding them, and making sure playgrounds are everywhere. Their mission: To have every child walking distance from a playground.

Kaboom.org

They also have a PlaySpace Finder with currently over 5000 playgrounds to search from. I have been trying to reach them to work with them on their site. That makes me sound snobbish, but I think the site could use a bit of help. But it's still great.

West Newbury, Action Cove

Here's the writeup for this magnificent five star playground located on Bachelor St. between Meetinghouse Hill Rd. and Middle St. in West Newbury. Action Cove is now up in the top FIVE of playgrounds in the North Shore. Similar to Eagle Nest in Essex, but even better with even more platforms, under-floor crawl spaces, and nooks.

Download the PDF at my web site:

www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

The photo is of course in color as is all the photos in the newly done addendums I have been posting.

Enjoy!

Salem's Mary Jane Lee

Okay, I have finally finished all the edits for the known missing playgrounds for Salem. Just Mary Jane Lee Playground located on the corners of Prince St. and Palmer St. in the Point Neighborhood.

Download the PDF of the writeup at my website:

www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

The playground photos are in color in all of my addendums now, so you get a great visual.

Maps

Well, here's something I am not proud of doing but I think I have to, especially because my editor told me to - that's my wife.

So on the addendums I have been working on, I have been updating the maps to reflect the addition of the missing playground. You know, putting it on the map and adding the streets, etc. Of course, as in the original maps I had done for the book, the map page also lists every playground, its location, and its rating. PLUS, it is all in color now.

Now, anybody can download the map even if they didn't buy the book. I don't have some insane registration process to get the download. I just don't know how to code that into the web site and what a logistical pain that would be. 

So with the new colored map, you pretty much have an entire city with all its playgrounds and their ratings in your hands without spending one penny. And that is actually just fine with me. 

BUT - and here's the rub - I am planning to sell those playground brochures (a map and photo of each playground in their city) to their respective park and recreation departments. Well, why would the city want to pay for something that is already free on my site? Darn it.

So I am left with a marketing choice, which always puts the audience at a disadvantage, and had to leave the maps off the downloadable updates. Hopefully, IF the cities buy their brochure then you can download the brochure with the color maps at that point. But in the meantime, you'll have to put your own little stars marking the playground on the maps in the book. Sorry.

Gloucester Addendum

I finally finished the first addendum to the Playground book. Go to the web site:
www.visualvoices.net/publications/update.html

and download the PDF of the updated pages. It includes the write ups for each of the five playgrounds. And best of all, they are all in color!

The playgrouds are:
Babson Playground
Brown's Field
Edward "Gint" Middleton Playground
Ganine Nancy Doucette Playground
Joseph Palazola Playground

Brochures

During the winter, the other thing I have been doing is creating single page pamphlets that could be made into downloadable PDF's with all the playgrounds in one town. It includes the town map with all the playgrounds such as that in the book, and a color photo of each playground on the reverse. No ratings and descriptions though.

Why would I do this? Won't it cut into "profits?" I don't even know what a "profit" is. Anyhoo, there are a couple of reasons why I'm doing this. One is I can't keep updating the book every two years because I just can't afford to print the book all the time. So I need a way to keep everybody updated with the playgrounds without spending a bijillion dollars. Well, a downloadable PDF would allow me not to print anything thereby saving some money (alright, a lot of money. . . alright, all the money). And second: see below.

What will I do with this brochure? The plan would be to sell the PDF to their respective cities so that they can post and advertise the PDF on their city websites for their citizens. Wouldn't that be handy for everyone? Okay, so there isn't a rating system on the brochure but if I did, it would be the rating of ONE individual and may not benefit the city. Maybe the cities wouldn't want their one star playground pointed out.

I'm still working on Salem's brochure. And I haven't approached them yet with the idea, although I had gone to a public space meeting several months ago and was asked about doing such a pamphlet for them. Of course, nothing has come of it. We'll see.

Updates coming!

Winter is here and we don't go to as many playgrounds as we use to. BUT I should be working on getting those updated playgrounds into a print format for those people who have purchased Playgrounds of the North Shore.

Well, I have finally started working on them and my editor (wife) is currently going over them and I should have them posted this weekend I hope.

First up will be those five playgrounds I missed in Gloucester:

Babson Playground

Brown's Field

Edward "Gint" Middleton Playground

Ganine Nancy Doucette Playground

Joseph Palazola Playground

Next up will be Action Cove in Newbury and the ONE playground I missed in my own hometown of Salem, Mary Jane Lee Playground.