Opening of New Elm Creek Park Playground in Maple Grove Delayed, Again

On a sunny day, you’ll find Mary Hastings and her two daughters strolling through in Maple Grove.

Lately the family of three has stuck to the bike trails as they anxiously await the opening of a new playground.

“Several nights a week I would bring the girls over so they could run around on the playground,” she said. “It was a very popular place and I imagine it will be again once the new play area is put in.”

Hastings is right, the old playground was used by about 1,000 kids per day during the summer. It got so much use, Three Rivers Park District decided to expand it.  

Over the course of the last year, old equipment has been hauled away and construction on a new $1.1 million playground began.

The plan was to have the new playground open by fall 2010, but weather delayed construction so the opening date was pushed back. Park officials hoped to open the playground on National Get Outdoors Day June 11, but now the date is being pushed back again.

“We’ve had a series of weather problems and then in spring we found out there are cracks in the retaining walls,” Landscape Architect Stephen Shurson said. “That problem will set us back a little further.”

At this point Shurson is hoping the playground will be open by mid to late June, provided the weather cooperates.

“We know there is a big demand for this,” he said. In fact, it is such a popular place park officials are having a hard time keeping kids out of the construction zone. 

“When it does open it will be worth the wait,” he said. “The new playground is twice the size of the old one with activities for kids of all ages.”

This new playground is much more than a metal slide and some monkey bars. The new digs will include an 18-foot climbing net, a 30-foot dinosaur buried in the sand, a rock wall, seven slides and plenty of spots for parents to sit and watch their kids.
Once it is open, Shurson believes it will be the largest play area in the metro. He predicts upwards of 1,500 kids will play on it each day during the summer.

“It will be a major attraction for us,” he said. “When you add this new playground to the swim area, beach and trails that are already at Elm Creek Park it becomes an even bigger draw for people to come and visit.”