JANESVILLE For more than two decades, the names of families, businesses and organizations that helped make Peace Park Playground a reality surrounded the climbing structures.
Now, as the city rebuilds the 23-year-old playground, those names are coming down along with the fence they hung on. Crews are tackling a revamp aimed at fixing broken parts of the playground and adding new materials to extend the popular parks lifespan, Parks Director Cullen Slapak said.
The City of Janesville began rebuilding the teepee tent-themed playground in August, replacing aging wooden components with composite lumber and metal features.
The playgrounds original fence for years has featured around 600 engraved plastic pickets donated more than 20 years ago. Theyre all being replaced with regular pickets.
Slapak said after nearly a quarter-century, many of the pickets have been damaged, broken or bowed, requiring modifications and additional support to keep parts of the fence in place.
The city removed the fence and stacked the pickets in storage at Peace Parks pavilion. Anyone who donated a picket can retrieve it as a keepsake.
The pickets were plastic and bowing. The city decided to build the fence without the use of the engraved pickets. There are no plans to incorporate the names into newer inclusions of the playground.
For now, the City has no plans to re-incorporate the names on the pickets into the playground.
The original donations came through the Peace Park Playground Committee, which handled the fundraising and pickets.
Slapak said many of the hundreds of individual pickets showed their age after two decades of weathering. He said the city could find no practical way to incorporate the old fence into the renovation.
Instead, he said, the new fence will use larger composite lumber similar to the materials at Camden Playground at Palmer Park.
Slapak noted that much of Peace Park playgrounds recognizable character will remain. The main teepee structure, including a set of peace-themed paintings inside, the roofed areas on either side, and the main ramps and decking, are staying in place.
The city plans to cover some of the existing wooden structures with composite lumber and replace worn playground features, including the wooden swing bays, with new, composite and metal components.
Slapak said the city plans to replace the playgrounds worn-out roller slide with a new one.
The city expects the revamps to extend Peace Parks lifespan 20 years or more, depending on weather and other factors.
Once the rebuild is finished, a contractor will install new poured-in-place rubber safety surfacing a final touch before Peace Parks playground fully reopens.
Slapak said the city tries to renovate one or two playgrounds every year if theres enough funding available. He said future projects likely will focus on smaller neighborhood playgrounds.
Peace Parks donated pickets are available for pickup, but the city wont keep them forever. The city plans to discard any remaining, unclaimed pickets after the park renovations are finished.
Parks director Cullen Slapak said much of the playgrounds recognizable character will remain. Such as the main teepee structure, including the peace paintings inside, the roofed areas on either side, and the main ramps and decking are staying in place.