Hempfield looking to community to help pay for proposed playground

Hempfield leaders are looking to the community to help pay for a proposed playground at Hempfield Park.

The playground, to be located near the park’s amphitheater, will cost $460,000 for the equipment and installation. According to Aaron Siko, director of parks and recreation, through the township’s current efforts and projects, about $200,000 has been secured to kickoff fundraising efforts.

Now, the goal is to raise $260,000 from the community, through corporate partnerships, individual donations and fundraising events.

“We’d like the community to step up and help us fund the rest,” Siko said during this week’s supervisors workshop. “That would be the grassroots fundraising efforts up through seeking that corporate sponsor, seeking that individual who wants to put their name on this and multiple sponsors who want to put their name on this.”

Initial renderings for the playground show four play areas, including inclusive swing sets — featuring one on which a parent and child can swing together — and a sensory play area with items like roller pads and a music area.

In addition, there is a play area for kids between the ages of 2 and 5 that includes low-height items and interconnected elements. The fourth section is for kids ages 5 to 12 and features an enclosed play tower, “which is a much bigger structure, has some height to it, some excitement to it,” Siko said. The tower would include two slides.

“If we’re going to do it, the hope would be that this is a lasting legacy type of playground, something that’s going to be a 20-year lifespan at the park and is really going to be that destination piece to drive those pavilion rentals, those amphitheater uses,” Siko said.

Siko noted that conversations are underway with potential sponsors.

If enough money is raised, the timeline for the project would be to remove existing playground equipment starting in October. New equipment would be purchased and installed by May. In an effort to reduce costs, Siko noted officials are considering hosting a playground community build in the spring.

That would consist of volunteers building some of the play structure, while bringing in professional installers to finish the installation. According to Siko, community builds of this size typically take up to three days to complete and consist of 100 volunteers.

The playground is one of the final projects planned for the ongoing Hempfield Park rehabilitation. So far, several projects have been completed for the project, including the rehabilitation of the Bill Mazeroski baseball field, construction of the Smail Auto Group Amphitheater, building a new dog park and updates to pavilions and restrooms in the park.

“I think this is a worthwhile, exciting project to finish out all the work that we’ve done at the park over the last six, going on seven, years,” Siko said.