Marietta Works On Washington Elementary School Playground

MARIETTA, OH — If you live in Marietta you’ve probably noticed that the playground equipment at Washington Elementary School is gone. The Marietta Public Works Department rolled in after school was out, and ripped out all the fun stuff. Most of the playground equipment was outdated, and according to Marietta Mayor Josh Schlicher, some of it was even unsafe.

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“By industry standards, some of the equipment was dangerous.”

They are going to be making it into a brand new park. They’re building a brand new basketball court. “It’ll take a couple of weeks to put that in.” There will be new lighting, a new fence, and new access points installed.

LeeAnn Johnson helped raise the money for this project. She’s part of the Fountain Foundation, they work to better parks in Marietta, Ohio. She said they had wanted to do something about this playground for some time. “The equipment was falling apart.” So she and the Fountain Foundation were able to raise about $120,000.

There will be new equipment installed, and that has already been ordered. Schlicher said most of the new playground should be here by July. But, there will be some lightly used equipment from the now-closed Harmar Elementary School’s playground that will be brought over to Washington’s playground. Schlicher said that it’s all in good condition.

Johnson said much of the new equipment will be acceptable for younger, smaller children. “There’s a couple really neat teeter-totters.” She said we can also look forward to brand new swings.

Mayor Schlicher said there were a couple of pieces of playground equipment that the city elected to not throw away. “We kept some of the vintage equipment for the sake of keeping it.” One piece was moved to another local park. Some of the equipment will be auctioned or re-purposed. “Anything we could keep we kept.”

Johnson thanked the community for their generosity when participating in their fundraisers. She said the community immediately recognized the importance of a project like this. “To create a safer, better, more accessible playground. For the neighborhood, for the community, and for the school.” She said because there hasn’t been a lot of money put toward the playground, it’s suffered over the years. “We’re really thrilled to be able to make these kinds of improvements, especially with everything we’ve been through with COVID. These children deserve a safe and fun place to play.”

Schlicher said the goal is to get the playground open by the time school starts back up. He says it’s a construction site right now and asks folks not to trespass. The city plans on having a dedication to mark the occasion in August. Johnson echoed the mayor saying the plan is to open in August, but they’ve been dealing with COVID-19 related supply chain issues. “We’re just hoping and praying that everything will get here in time.”

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