Imagination Kingdom gone

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Demolition began on Greenfield’s Imagination Kingdom on Thursday. By Friday, the only thing left of the 26-year-old playground was a rock marker that still reads “Greenfield Imagination Kingdom.”

A new playground will be constructed in its place, however.

Last month, Greenfield Exempted Village School District Superintendent Quincey Gray estimated that the construction of the new playground will likely occur over three days in early March. School board member Charley Roman confirmed Friday that is still the expected timeline.

According to a story published in a previous edition of The Times-Gazette, the main area of the new equipment will be in a sort of semi-circular shape with other play equipment fanning out from there. The new equipment will be situated in about the same area as the current playground and includes slides, climbing equipment, spinning equipment, a teeter totter, swings, benches and picnic tables, ADA accessible equipment, and green space.

The new structure will also alleviate an issue with the former playground — there were many places that weren’t visible from outside the play area. The new design leaves every place visible, according to Gray and design plans rendered by Midstates Recreation.

The east side of the playground adjacent to an alley will be developed over the summer into a parking area, Gray said, and is “another way that we are thinking of the community and families, as parking is a definite need.”

The former Imagination Kingdom was built over a five-day period in early May 1993 by more than 1,000 volunteers including doctors, lawyers, construction workers, factory workers, teachers, parents, grandparents and students, Sue Zint, who was the elementary principal at the time of the Imagination Kingdom’s inception, said.

In early December 2019, Gray announced the playground would be demolished due to the inability to correctly and safely repair the existing structure as the whole is outdated and the parts are not made anymore.

Gray also said at that time that the take-down and hauling away of the demolished playground materials would be done at no cost, courtesy of community members who volunteered their services.

According to a source, the project will cost a little over $120,000.

After the demolition of Greenfield’s Imagination Kingdom, the only thing still standing on Friday afternoon was this rock marker, which still reads “Greenfield Imagination Kingdom.”
https://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2020/01/web1_ImagKing1-edit.jpgAfter the demolition of Greenfield’s Imagination Kingdom, the only thing still standing on Friday afternoon was this rock marker, which still reads “Greenfield Imagination Kingdom.” McKenzie Caldwell | The Times-Gazette
New playground will be built in March

The Times-Gazette

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