Perham area parents may be happy to hear that there's some new playground equipment swinging into town.
The set will be bigger than anything else in any other city park; it will be installed at Arvig Park.
Public Works Director Merle Meece said Monday he had just gotten notice that the equipment had left the factory. If all goes as planned, the set will be up before the start of summer, according to Park and Recreation Board Chairperson Eric Spencer.
The park board voted in February to purchase the new equipment, after several months of planning.
"We wanted a bigger piece, and this one has 16 or 18 different activities, so it's pretty sizeable," said Spencer. "We don't have anything quite that big in any of the other parks. We also wanted something more than just swings and slides - things for kids to climb on, to build upper body strength."
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The hope is that the new equipment will draw more people to the park to explore its disc golf course, tennis courts, trails and other recreational offerings. It will also give younger kids something to do while their older brothers and sisters play baseball and other games in the summers.
The new set will be replacing some, but not all, of the current playground pieces at Arvig Park. Meece said some of the pieces that get removed will be installed at other parks around town.
The new equipment will be a Playworld Systems model. The Park and Recreation Board is budgeting the purchase out over two years; it costs about $21,000 total.
"With a limited budget, we felt spending the money on a larger piece of equipment, rather than spending a little on all the parks, would make a larger impact," said Spencer. "And Arvig Park has quite a bit of other things to offer, so we felt that was the logical choice."
