Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 13, 1992 TAG: 9203130324
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JUDY SCHWAB CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
A representative of the Robert S. Leathers playground architecture firm in Ithaca, N.Y., will ask Blacksburg kids what they want in a playground. Then it will help them and adult volunteers make it a reality.
Sheryl Bolstad saw a Leathers-designed playground near Albany, N.Y., in September, came home to Blacksburg and told her friend Elaine Keyes-Alfonso about it.
Designed by children, these playgrounds have a lot more imagination than the usual collection of swings, sliding boards and sand boxes.
Leathers' architectural firm has been helping towns build their own kid-designed playgrounds for 20 years. There are more than 600 Leathers playgrounds in the United States, Canada and Australia, Bolstad said.
The closest one to Blacksburg is in Lynchburg.
Leathers got his architectural start as a boy building multistory tree houses, according to a Time magazine story.
Bolstad and Alfonso began organizing seriously in January. Last month, the town passed a resolution supporting the idea and designating a spot in the Blacksburg Municipal Park for the playground.
The Leathers firm has supplied materials on how to organize the project, from fund raising to nail hammering. Bolstad and Alfonso already have gathered a nice mix of people willing to serve on the 10 committees they've established.
"We have people other than ourselves who wake up at 2:30 with good ideas," Alfonso said.
The two women are operating from their homes and frequently work together, with their three children orbiting their every move.
Sam Bolstad, at 2 1/2, can manage the sliding board in Alfonso's living room. But Justin Alfonso, 17 months, and Holly Bolstad, 5 months, need a bit more supervision.
Their mothers seem able to make numerous phone calls, organize meetings and create publicity materials while breast-feeding, changing diapers and dispensing graham crackers.
It's easy to see why Alfonso and Bolstad are interested in a playground, but the people they've attracted to the project are not just parents. Single people, retired people, all kinds of people are interested in this community project.
Committees include fund raising, purchasing, donated materials, public relations, volunteers, child care, tools, special needs - meeting access needs for the handicapped - and food.
A special children's committee will work with the kids to name the playground and create a logo for it.
Fund raising will include bake sales at the churches, yard sales at the park and boardroom pitches to industries. There also will be a "buy-a-board and buy-a-section" promotion. You can sponsor a little or a lot of the playground.
Leathers representative Jane Lewis is scheduled to come to Blacksburg on March 31 for design day. She'll meet with children and turn their ideas into drawings. That night she'll present a design at a community meeting.
Alfonso, Bolstad and their legion of volunteers then will have until fall to raise the money and organize a construction weekend - actually, five days and nights of hard work and fun.
Alfonso and Bolstad think they'll have to raise about $40,000. This is only an estimate, they emphasized. That amount should provide a playground that would cost between $120,000 to $150,000 without all the volunteers, they said.
Construction day will require expert logistics. Workers will be expected to do anything they can do. And they'll all have to eat.
"We're going to invite everyone who can hold a hammer," Alfonso said.
They'll need a moving van to get all the equipment and supplies to the site, and lighting for the night shift.
"I dream about construction weekend - good dreams," Alfonso said.
She and Bolstad had only $125 in donations and a pledge of $5,000 from the town's playground budget at the end of February. By March 11, they had another $5,000 donated by Montgomery Regional Hospital.
If you would like to donate, send your check to The Playground Fund, P.O. Box 11061, Blacksburg 24062-1061.
If you'd like to work on the project, call Alfonso at 552-5420 or Bolstad at 552-1813.
by CNB