The Parks and Recreation Department was successful with its 2017 Healthy Play Funding Application and was awarded close to $100,000 of matching funds from PlayCore and GameTime to install a new inclusive playground at Mammoth Creek Park. The playground will be the first truly inclusive playground incorporating research-based, best practices in Eastern California and will also serve as a National Demonstration Site (NDS).
Help Us Build a Playground
The inclusive playground is scheduled to be installed this summer and the Town is looking for volunteers. Based on the current schedule for the site work and removal of the existing playground, the ‘supervised’ community build is scheduled from June 11 – 22, 2018. Work will be performed Monday to Friday with some clean-up work scheduled on Saturday. Great Western Recreation will be providing the supervision along with the staff that will install the concrete base for the tile and curb for the playground boundary. Town staff will be assisting the contractors and volunteers to install the playground.
If you can volunteer at least 4 hours of your time, please register online. For every 4-hour shift worked, every volunteer receives a custom T-shirt, lunch and a chance to win great raffle prizes such as a 32” LED TV, 3-day 2018 Bluesapalooza passes, Whitmore Pool passes, restaurant certificates, and more…
Inclusive Play
The inclusive playground is a significant recreation asset that complements our vision “To be the best alpine recreation community in the country,” while supporting the Parks and Recreation Department mission “To provide multi-purpose, year-round, indoor and outdoor recreation opportunities accessible to all residents and visitors.”
The new 7,770 square-foot, inclusive playground will incorporate the Seven Principles of Inclusive Playground Design providing opportunities for the physical, social-emotional, sensory, cognitive, and communicative benefits of play for all. Playgrounds are a gateway to playful, healthy and active lifestyles and are critical in combating the many challenges we face as a community. From obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and social inequities, playgrounds promote active, intergenerational play in amazing outdoor environments.
The inclusive playground is also one of five components of the Mammoth Creek Park project, designed to work with existing park features and the proposed community multi-use facilities. The guiding principle builds from the “A Town within a Park” concept to deliver local residents and visitors with high quality, complementary recreation facilities. Combined with community-driven and professional year-round programming, these facilities will promote a degree of excitement, individual expression, exploration, and accomplishment leading to an enhanced quality of life for the community of Mammoth Lakes.
Information
For additional information, to volunteer or to donate, please contact Lauren Plum at (760) 965-3699.