Facelifts for three Arlington Heights parks

A new playground at Recreation Park in Arlington Heights opens Tuesday, complete with new tower and climbing structures, monkey bars and other upper-body equipment.

The work, which began in early May, is part of a $450,000 playground renovation project, which also included improvements to Evergreen and Melas parks, said park planner Stephanie Stevens.

Stevens expects the new playground at Recreation will be used a lot during the Frontier Days festival this weekend. Besides new playground equipment, other improvements include new sidewalks, underdrains and benches.

Aside from the excessive rain this season, the park district has seen few problems during construction, Stevens said. Fortunately, the parks did not experience any significant damage during the severe storms last week, she added.

Construction at Evergreen Park, which includes installation of new swings, monkey bars and a rock-climbing wall, is expected to be complete in the next few weeks. Work at Melas Park, which will get upper body rope climbers and pods, where children can jump from one to the next, will follow.

Although Melas is technically in Mount Prospect, the park is split between both villages in a lease agreement, Stevens said.

While all three playgrounds met safety standards before the renovations, they were worn compared to other district parks, Stevens said.

Alison McLaughlin, who has lived near Evergreen Park since 2002, said her children, ages 8 and 11, have grown up with the park and are excited to have new equipment to play on. As a parent, McLaughlin had safety concerns about one part of the old equipment: a chain ladder. She said the coating came off the chain years ago, so she steered her kids clear of the ladder, afraid it might pinch their fingers.

McLaughlin’s children use the park a few times a week, their favorite game being “hot lava.”

“New equipment will make hot lava lots of fun,” she said.

The park district will recycle the used equipment from Recreation and Evergreen parks and donate equipment from Melas Park to Kids Around the World, a nonprofit organization that refurbishes used equipment and installs it in countries like Uganda, Haiti and Cambodia.

Kids Around the World has built 176 new and recycled playgrounds since 1994, said assistant playground director Diana Hamachek.