Efforts begin to organize for late 2023 work to build new space for youth

The Cedartown City Commission was unanimous in their vote to fund just over $40,000 in spending to get the process for a playground replacement underway at Peek Park in Cedartown. The bill is specifically for the design of the new playground, City Manager Edward Guzman explained.

Volunteers will be needed in the near future and those interested will want to keep an eye out for an announcement once the City of Cedartown has everything in place for the replacement for the space.

There are no plans at this time for the playground to close until everything is ready for a replacement, Guzman said.

The playground celebrated its 20th anniversary three years ago since going up in 1999.

The now 23-year-old structure has held up to time, but the goal for city officials is to stay ahead of any potential problems. This is why they are taking actions now to get together what is needed now to make a better play space for youth of the future.

The replacement will not have any impact on the handicapped accessible swing installed in recent years at the playground, but will see the remaining structure removed and replaced.

Instead, Guzman explained during a Tuesday tour with officials that the goal is to utilize survey results from the public that believe those swings could be better placed now into the whole of the playground’s new boundaries.

Those new picket fences going up could extend outward as far as to the mixed-use splashpad and amphitheater entrance, and outward from the brick wall dividing the rest of the field where the city hosts the annual Summer Concert Series in Peek Park.

Here’s a look at what the current footprint and potential footprint might be:

Guzman noted in recommending the request during the October 10, 2022 commission meeting that the playground equipment was in dire need of an update, and that a replacement for the wooden structure would seek to remain “consistent with the current design” when it gets replaced.

“I’m glad we’re doing this,” Commissioner Matt Foster said. “And thanks to you and your staff for getting ahead of this… People who enjoy the park come from all over to use the playground.”

Foster added that he hopes the same “turnout of people” come to volunteer when the time comes to bring in the new equipment and structure for the update at Peek Park. He was in elementary school at the time when the current playground went up. He’s glad to be around for the new phase of the park’s life.

Guzman said late 2023 is the expected timeline for when a group effort will be needed for what is likely going to be a weeklong process to remove and replace everything.

The current wood structure will be replaced with a newer and more durable manufactured wood material, but Guzman said during Tuesday’s tour the goal is to keep the same basic design but expand outward. This will give the playground designers a larger amount of room to utilize in the process.

Leathers & Associates will be doing the design on the new playground, which was built with a big volunteer effort in 1999.

A fundraising and volunteer-built effort spearheaded by Leslie McFall and Carol Ferry brought in $150,000 to pay for the project and from April 14 to April 19, 1999, the playground went up for all to enjoy after hundreds lent their muscle power to get the job done.

Fundraising efforts will be needed again. Guzman said that some funding has been set aside for the project, but didn’t specifically detail how much. He said Leathers & Associates will be providing materials to help with getting the money together, and the city will be helping with forming various committees that will be needed to put together this round of work.

Those for now will include fundraising, construction, volunteer coordinators and other committees will for as needed.

Some questions will be answered as time goes on. For instance, wooden dedication markers, pickets and bricks with names engraved in them and even a metal plaque from the Junior Service League dedicated to the city from civic organizations when the playground was built will either need to be moved or untouched during the replacement. Other artistic elements on the structure could also be saved.

Guzman said no decision has yet been made about what to do with those elements, but conversations are ongoing about preservation efforts for memorials at the playground.

The overall design of the new structure will be forthcoming, Guzman said, now that money has been allocated and approved by the Commission for Leathers & Associates to get to work.

Playgrounds since have gone up all across the whole of Polk County and are utilized by thousands of youth annually.

Rockmart built a similar structure which is also in the works for a replacement.

Newer style playground equipment has gone up at parks like the Nathan Dean Sports Complex and the Bert Wood Youth and Athletic Complex in recent years that utilize newer designs, plastics and metals with a rubberized base and improvements that take into account safety research on the impact of falls on the bodies of children when they tumble off various play equipment.