Wilson students will get first chance to break in new equipment

Now that the weeklong construction frenzy is over, the question remains: When will Wildcat Park be ready for use?

After school on Friday, according to Mark Hoffman, one of the organizers of the massive volunteer effort to rebuild the beloved community playground at Wilson Elementary School.

The original Wildcat was dismantled last year because of safety concerns, and the new park, above all else, had to be safe. It was open for a couple of frenetic hours during a completion ceremony Sunday evening, then shut down pending inspection.

On Monday, however, officials of the Corvallis School District and Leathers & Associates, the firm that designed the playground, signed off on the project, clearing the way for full operations.

“There are a few minor things to adjust, but none of them are safety issues, so we are free to open the park,” Hoffman said.

“But,” he added, “we can’t do that until we have it more kid-friendly.”

Basically, that means cleaning up the construction site, which is still crowded with tools, equipment and building materials left over from last week’s marathon building project.

A lot of the gear used to erect the new play structure is on loan from local residents and now needs to be picked up to speed the process of clearing out the site. Anyone who lent tools or equipment to the cause can retrieve their stuff today or Wednesday between 5 p.m. and dark.

After consolidating and fencing off what’s left on Thursday, the new playground should be open to the public Friday afternoon — but not until the Wilson Elementary student body gets a crack at it.

“I told the Wilson kids, ‘You’ll be the first ones on there,’ ” said Principal Gerry Kosanovic.

The plan is to walk the students through the new playground by grade level during the school day, giving each class some playtime on the $260,000 structure, which runs the gamut from simple slides and swings to a replica of the Benton County Courthouse. Once school’s out, however, expect a free-for-all.

“At 2:35 the bell rings, and then it’s a community park,” Kosanovic said.

Built with plastic and composite materials instead of pressure-treated wood, Wildcat 2.0 should last far longer than the original — at least 30 or 40 years, Hoffman estimated. But some maintenance will be required, and donations are still being accepted for that purpose at www.newwildcatpark.org.

“We’ve covered all our costs for materials, but we are continuing to raise funds in an attempt to endow a long-term maintenance fund,” Hoffman said.

Friday’s projected opening date is a little bit earlier than the organizers had previously told the eager children of Corvallis to expect. There are still a few tasks that remain to be done, including pouring concrete for sidewalks and installing one more bank of swings, but the Wildcat Park Steering Committee now thinks some of that can wait — at least until folks have had a chance to catch their breath.

“After checking everyone’s energy levels this week,” Hoffman said, “we decided to put that off.”

Bennett Hall is the business editor for the Gazette-Times. He can be reached at 758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net.