Three new, unique playgrounds are coming to BlanchardMartinez Park in Columbia County.
The county is adding three different playgrounds that have a woodsy design, are for different ages groups and staggered along a trail, said Dennis Hodges, deputy division director for Community Services.
“We’ve got the woodlands sections which is for smaller kids, then we have the large main area which is basically for kids 5-12 and then we have what’s called the boulder area, that basically is probably 10-year-olds and above,” Hodges said.
The three playgrounds have a nature theme to them where they are designed to look like fallen logs and rocks, Hodges said. There will be some rope climbers attached to some of the equipment, along with some traditional playground items, such as a slide and tree house area, attached to the main structure. There are also animals native to the area included in some of the structures.
“There was a playground, a very small playground on the other side of the park, but this was a feature we wanted to add to encourage people to get out and use the trails, the walking trails over there as well,” Hodges said. “That’s why we spread the separate playgrounds, instead of doing one large playground, we spread it out along the trails to encourage people to take their kids over, walk the trails and let them play on this equipment.”
The playground is expected to be finished in mid-October and open by the end of October. Hodges said that once it’s finished, he thinks people will be excited to see it because it’s such a unique playground.
“We wanted something that was unique and that area,” Hodges said of the playgrounds. “We wanted to sort of keep it as natural as we possibly could. This equipment was designed, it gives it natural feel to the park. We used basically the terrain that we have over there, we really didn’t do a lot … you’ll see we left a lot of trees to provide shade for the play structures. We utilize the terrain as much as we possibly could to build these play structures as a really natural feel.”
The small kids area is next to the road, while the big, main structure is over a bridge, but can be seen from the road, Hodges said. The older kids area, which looks like rocks, is down a trail near the main structure.
To find the new playgrounds, go through the main entrance off 4541 Dewey Drive, head toward the back of the parking lot to the street that goes down a hill. The playground will be on the right near the walking trail. It will also be close to the new dog park.
Stephanie Hill is the managing editor and covers Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
