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 . . .