Explore This Playground
Aside from a few broken pieces of antiquated play equipment, the small town of Inglis, located on Florida's Nature Coast, had never had a playground. And that didn't sit well with Bill Lake. While serving as the City Commissioner of Budget and Finance, Lake decided that area children needed a place to play, and he set out to do something about it.
Lake waded through mountains of paperwork to apply for – and win – a $125,000 grant through the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP). With funding secured, Lake turned to the playground's design. For a community that had never had a good place for kids to play, he wanted something unique, something special that could bring the community out and get local kids excited about playing.
"After looking at a lot of different playground equipment, I liked the idea of having a theme playground," says Lake. "Since this is a waterfront town, I was looking for a ship or something nautical. I looked through all of the different catalogs, but the Little Tikes Commercial catalog from Play Now Florida was the only one that actually had a ship structure that fit my idea of what our playground should look like."
Lake worked closely with Kidie Thornton, a Little Tikes Commercial representative at Play Now Florida, using the KidBuilders Theme ship playground as a base for a custom playground experience.
"Bill understood what a unique opportunity he had and wanted to do something very customized," says Thornton. "He researched playgrounds, components and how kids play, and he designed a structure that would appeal to kids of all ages. The result is unlike any other playground I've seen."
What used to be an empty space behind City Hall is now a vibrant park and playground. In addition to the Little Tikes Commercial ship component, the Inglis playground includes Floating Stones, Climbers, slides, and play panels. Mast-shaped sun shades offer protection from the sun, while a sturdy fence encloses the play area. The only entrance is through a large gazebo, which allows adults to relax in the shade while kids play safely nearby.
The Inglis playground opened to the public in April 2009, and has been garnering rave reviews ever since. "People love it," says Lake, who has since been elected Mayor. "We have parents travel from a number of the surrounding communities to play here; they mention to us that kids like coming to this park more than parks in their home towns."
However, the playground has done more than just given kids a place to play; it has gotten the community involved in the area. "People never used the park before. Now, together with our newly renovated community center next door, it is bringing people to the area. People have birthday parties in the park, the YMCA brings their summer program there, and the Girl Scouts use it. It's bringing in people I've never met before, and getting them more interested in what's going on at city hall and in the town in general."