After being closed for seven months for improvements and repairs, the Pumpkin Patch playground is again open to the public. A community play day to celebrate the park's reopening is planned for Saturday, June 30 from 9-11 a.m.
"We want everyone to try to get together all at once to see some of the new features and enjoy the park as a whole community," said Lindsay Wolford, one of the volunteer project managers for the Pumpkin Patch 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization.
The event will also serve as a "thank you" to the key volunteers, including members of the Signal Mountain Lions Club and parents, who helped with the painting and building of the new features at the 20-year-old playground, she said.
New features include a tepee, small slides for little ones, several new playhouses with creative designs, and two large hillside slides referred to as the "slide pit zone." There's also the "Pumpkin Patch Express" train, a gaga ball court, a small climbing wall, a lemonade stand, Lincoln Log towers to play hide and seek in, and two lounge chair-style swings, said Wolford.
"It's been a long project, and we're really happy with the way it turned out," she said. "You can stand in the middle of the playground and hear kids laugh and squeal with delight as they come down the path and see all the new stuff."
Seeing those reactions - and a full parking lot outside the playground every day since it opened a few weeks ago - has been rewarding, said Wolford.
The nonprofit's current board is preparing to, within the next few weeks, hand over the reigns to new leadership, which will be headed up by new President John Barlew. Current board members spoke with Walden officials at their June meeting about forming a partnership with the nonprofit, requesting that the town hire someone for several hours a week to maintain the park and keep it up to safety standards.
The nonprofit raised more than $200,000 through fundraisers such as the Harvest Supper and community donations, and spent $140,000 rebuilding the playground. The remaining funds will be used to maintain the park, including the required annual re-mulching of the nearly 2-acre playground.
"We want it to last another 20 years, and it's an expensive playground to maintain," said Wolford.
People who want to make a donation to the Pumpkin Patch 501(c)(3) can do so by visiting the Pumpkin Patch Facebook page or by mailing it to P.O. Box 802, Signal Mountain, Tennessee, 37377.