Inclusive playground at Hempfield Park to open this weekend

Hempfield officials are debuting their $454,000 inclusive playground this weekend, a milestone that marks the end of the first two phases of the Hempfield Park rehabilitation project.

The grand opening is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Hempfield Park, where attendees can get a first look at the playground, which features 60 play components, including 37 accessible ground-level components. The event will include comments from township supervisors and staff, free Kona Ice, air brush tattoos and more.

“The inclusive playground at Hempfield Park is the focal point of our rehabilitation over the past six years,” said Aaron Siko, director of parks and recreation. “The Hempfield Township supervisors recognized the need to update our aging park amenities and invest in the future of recreation for our residents.”

The playground, located near the park’s amphitheater, is divided into several sections, including play areas for ages 2 to 5 and ages 5 to 12.

The play area for younger children is a ramped structure featuring slides and climbing pieces. It also features an awning for shade. The section for children 5 to 12 consists of an enclosed play tower with slides, rock-climbing walls and climbing pieces.

There also is a section for swingsets and motion play equipment, as well as a sound and music play area featuring musical sound equipment such as drums and cymbals. The swingsets include parent-and-me swings, and the motion play equipment section features an inclusive orbit — a spinning structure that is wheelchair accessible — among other items.

The project was funded through a $369,000 state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant. Funds from the grant also went toward constructing a new pavilion.

In addition, the township raised $100,000 through donations and received in-kind support from Greensburg-based Blue Sky Sign Co.

Saturday’s grand opening — which will be followed by the first summer concert of the season at the park’s amphitheater — marks the end of the first and second phases of the Hempfield Park Rehabilitation project.

More than $3 million worth of park improvements were completed in those phases, including the construction of the amphitheater, rehabilitating five existing pavilions, renovating the upper and lower baseball fields, constructing the new pavilion, renovating restrooms, improving parking and walkways, adding sports field lighting, constructing a dog park and more.

Township leaders are now looking into the third phase, which will include rehabilitation of the Mazeroski Field Concession building, constructing a new restroom and concession stand near the inclusive playground and amphitheater and continued pathway improvements.

Those projects could be completed over the next several years.