'It's Just The Most Amazing Thing'
The North Rose Hill neighborhood of Kirkland built an elaborate playground from the dirt up. And they did it in five days.
On Wednesday, it was a pile of lumber, bolts and screws. It was a vision for a playground that would be paid for and built by volunteers.
"It's gonna be amazing," a volunteer predicted that day.
Come Sunday, she was proven right by the massive playground solidly built in an old empty meadow.
The planning started a year ago with kids from Mark Twain Elementary sketching out their ideas, then an architect refining them. The construction was staffed by hundreds of volunteers working elbow to elbow.
Volunteer Robert McEhinny described the work as wild and crazy. "I work construction, so to see that. Normally everyone is tripping over each other," he said. "You get out here and everything just flows."
Neighborhood kids were just as involved as the grownups. Jacob Slagle, 11, applied finishing touches to the tot lot. "I'm cleaning the conveyor belt. Well, it's not a conveyor belt anymore. Now it's a bouncy bridge," he said.
The effort brought out hundreds of volunteers from the neighborhood, city and local businesses.
Karen Whittle heard about it at a party her daughter was attending. They stopped by and wound up volunteering for two days. They will be back to play.
"I can say, I put that there and she put that over there, it'll be terrific," she said. "Something we can come back 10 or 15 years from now and say, we helped do that. It's gonna be great."
"It's hard not to get emotional and feel like, what an amazing experience," said organizer Kevin Miller. "Those times where you finally just stand a second and look at it. It's just the most amazing thing to realize what's happened here."
What's happened here is not just the construction of a playground. It's the building of relationships and community.
The park officially opened at 5 p.m. on Father's Day, becoming part of the city of Kirkland's park system.
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