A new ADA-compliant playground is coming to Willow Creek Elementary School in Riverton.
The project has been a year in the making, spurred on by the school’s Parent Advisory Committee, which has raised more than $140,000 to purchase the equipment.
“It’s amazing how much playground equipment costs,” Riverton City Council Member Dean Peranteaux said. “(But there are) students that may not be able to use the equipment that we have.”
Peranteaux sits on the Fremont County School District 25 Recreation Board, which agreed to contribute more than $45,000 to the effort this month.
“With the Rec Board’s help … they’re actually going to be able (to) get that equipment ordered and get it in this year,” Peranteaux said. “It’s kind of a huge win.”
Other funding came from the Daniels Fund, the Wyoming Community Foundation, a challenge between local banks, and school fundraisers like Silver Graphics, organized by art teacher Kristi Judd, and the annual Penny Ninja coin war contest between classrooms, Willow Creek principal Jeremy Hill said.
The new playground will feature a wheelchair accessible merry-go-round, a triple-wide slide, a buddy swing set, and a rubberized surface, PAC president Elizabeth Kummer said.
The new equipment will be located next to the current playground at the school, she said, and the PAC hopes to break ground on the project this summer.
For more information call the school at 856-6004.