Park District to Kick Off Annual Hoe Down With Playground Dedication

There’s been a swarm of activity in the northeastern corner of recently.

Contractors worked throughout the summer replacing the two old playgrounds with new swings, slides and climbing equipment.

During the past few weeks, those contractors have been replaced by children who flocked to the playground as soon as construction finished.

Though the kids already are making good use of it, the officially will celebrate its completion with a dedication Sunday before the .

While the two old playgrounds each used to serve a different age group, the new, larger playground features equipment for kids of all ages, park district Executive Director Stephanie Gurgone said.

“It made sense to make one larger playground because that park gets a lot of use,” she said. “It’s nice if you have older and younger kids because it combines the equipment for both.” 

Between equipment and site costs, the new playground cost about $233,000, Gurgone said.

Representatives from Kids Around the World dismantled the east playground earlier this summer and shipped it to Haiti, where it will be reassembled in mid-November, she said. Kids Around the World covered all of those costs, she said. 

The west side playground will come down later this fall.

The Community Park playgrounds were selected for replacement because of the amount of traffic that park gets, Gurgone said. The last playground the park district replaced was at the in 2007.

Because of the scale of this project, she said that it would probably be at least two to three years before the park district replaces another playground.

The dedication ceremony will take place at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, just before the start of the annual Hoe Down.

This year’s event will feature inflatable slides and bounce houses, pony rides, a petting zoo and plenty of games, Gurgone said.

“It’s just a nice family event,” she said. “You can come for half an hour or stay for the whole four hours.”

The Hoe Down will run in Darien Community Park, at the corner of Clarendon Hills and Plainfield roads, from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.