THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 12, 1995 TAG: 9503100245
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 150 lines
Children who visit Chesapeake City Park will soon be able to explore a castle, hide in a fort, shoot through a tunnel slide, dig for fossils or gaze through a window into their own imaginations.
During the first week of May about 4,000 volunteers will combine their strengths and skills to construct an innovative three-acre playground called Fun Forest.
The imaginative play and recreation area, first conceived by members of the Chesapeake Division of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, will be constructed around an existing playground near the Jubilee site on Greenbrier Parkway.
Fun Forest, which will spread over an area the size of two football fields, will be surrounded by shady picnic areas situated among tall trees and quiet gardens.
Leathers & Associates of Ithaca, N.Y., architects for Fun Forest, also designed Kids' Cove in Virginia Beach and Fort Fun in Newport News. The firm has created about 900 structures in 45 states and in Canada, Australia and Israel.
Fun Forest will be four times larger than the popular Kids' Cove playground at Mount Trashmore.
``This park will be larger and incorporates more than any park we've done,'' said architect Steve Lauzan. ``We reviewed the area, listened to the planners and heard the children's requests. They demanded open space and lots of trees. They wanted plenty of imaginary and play areas that would also include learning, science and discovery, plus picnic, drama, stage, rest areas and quiet corners. We also incorporated natural and physical science, gardens and trails and fun and education.
``Then, like a designer's dream, it all came together,'' he said.
Mary C. Haddad, Chesapeake's general coordinator for Fun Forest, also serves on the ``Family And Children's Trust,'' which is the governor's council for family and children's issues. She said the park has been designed to promote healty relationships between children and adults.
``We wanted to create an environment to encourage communication for parents and caregivers and designed with beauty, motor skills, science and learning as well as lots of fun in mind.''
To assure the safety of kids playing at the park, Fun Forest will have a single entrance, leading into a fenced play area. Discovery Path, a meandering concrete walkway, will wind past a ``history wall,'' a central pavilion, a stage with open seating, a rock garden, an ornithology zone, a paleontological sand dig, an aquatic sculpture garden and a science play area. Even those with strollers, walkers or wheelchairs will be able to make the trip easily along the smooth trail.
The ``history wall'' will display a pictorial history of Chesapeake from the 1600s to the present. A volunteer committee is working with the Norfolk County Historical Society and the South Norfolk Museum to plan the exhibits.
The main playground will present youngsters with opportunities to jump, run, crawl and swing on ladders, nets and bars. The activities are designed not only to be fun, but to promote healthful exercise and the development of balance, coordination, motor skills and imagination.
A colorful pavilion at the center of Fun Forest will have room for parents and caregivers to visit, read or relax, while keeping eyes on their young adventurers.
A large grassy area will serve as an outdoor stage. Schools, service organizations and community groups will be able to schedule programs there. At other times, youngsters can use the area to present their own impromptu dramas and performances.
In the park's natural science areas, children and adults will be able to watch birds or examine the specimens in a rock garden. There will be a small story circle, where groups can gather to share ideas or listen to tall tales.
Children won't be able to distinguish between fun and learning at Fun Forest, Haddad said.
A child who whispers into the ``whisper dish'' will be heard by his playmates on the other side of the park. It's fun, but it's also science. The dish reflects sound the way a satellite dish reflects signals.
For younger children, there will be a separate tot playground with a sandbox, swings, an airplane ride, a truck and an ``imagination window'' for fantasy travel.
Toddlers will be able to crawl up on concrete dolphins and leatherback turtles in the aquatic sculpture garden for a pretend ride in the sea.
The toddler area will also feature a paleontological dig sandbox. Sandbox explorers who dig deep will discover ``dinosaur bones'' and other ``fossils'' embedded in the concrete below the sand.
For the more adventuresome, the playground will have about 25 different activities to try. Among them will be a variety of bridges - a shaky bridge, a chain bridge, a rubber bridge and a tire bridge - a tube slide, a dip ladder, a zigzag ladder, a serpent tube slide, a dolphin tunnel slide and a circular slide to challenge young daredevils.
Children will be able to play in a castle, capture a mountain fortress, hide in a tree fort or sail off in a pirate ship during an afternoon of play.
Plans for the park incorporated many ways to entertain and challenge children with special needs.
A 30-foot buffer of small trees, shrubs, plants and picnic tables will surround the complex. Within five years, according to the park's designers, the trees will provide a canopy of shade for the entire park.
``We're planning beautiful and unique areas with the help of the Chesapeake master gardeners,'' said Laurie Smith, a local horticulturist, who is planning the botanical garden. ``We hope to have a scented garden, a touch garden and a butterfly garden. There'll be some unusual plants and lots of native flowers.''
Fun Forest is expected to cost $200,000 to build. All of the money, labor and materials will come from donations and fund-raising projects. Fun Forest fund-raisers have included a casino night and a holiday trolley tour.
The largest contribution to the project is a $50,000 donation from the children of Sollie and Vivian Thorpe in honor of their parents.
Fred Boyd of Chesapeake is in charge of imprinting 1,500 ceramic tiles, which will cover a wall inside the entrance gate to the park. For a $25 donation, Boyd will personalize a tile with a handprint, name and a special date, such as a birthday or anniversary.
Boyd said he has imprinted tiles with overlapping brother-and-sister handprints, puppy paw prints and anniversary and birthday commemorations.
``Families are going to have fun looking for their own special tile,'' said Boyd.
Businesses or families are invited to donate a specified item, such as a tree, a slide or a spot in the garden in honor of someone. A bench can be donated for $150, and $750 will buy a castle tower.
In addition to cash donations, there's also a need for tools, equipment and building materials. Organizers are looking for basic tools, such as hammers and saws, and the use of a forklift, backhoe, bobcat and a boom auger.
Volunteers, skilled or unskilled, are still needed for the actual construction, to take place May 2-7.
La Petite Academy on Volvo Parkway is providing free child care for volunteers who work on the project.
``You will be enjoying and showing off this park for a long, long time,'' said Lauzan, the architect. ``People will come from all over to explore Fun Forest.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
FUN CREST
TO GET INVOLVED
To volunteer time or to donate money or materials, call 552-2020
To buy a personalized tile in the Fun Forest wall, call Fred Boyd
at 552-2020. Tiles can be also be purchased at the Chesapeake
Central Library from 9 to 11 a.m. March 18; or at the YMCA on Indian
River Road from 9 to 11 a.m. March 25 and April 1
To hear a recording of up-to-date information about Fun Forest
projects, call 552-2020
Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Mary Lou Yarter and her daughter Lauren will soon have a much bigger
place to play at Chesapeake City Park - some three acres of fun in
all.
SCHEMATIC PLAN
by CNB