Children United Park to open grandly on Saturday

Just a little over a year since its groundbreaking, the Children United Park will be open to the public.

The grand opening will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the playground’s home in Elmer Thomas Park. The park is designed especially for children with disabilities.

This isn’t just a ribbon-cutting, either, according to Jeanette Klein from the Children United Committee. She said there will be plenty of fun activities for the whole family, including free T-shirts, therapy dogs, free music and free hot dogs donated by Arvest Bank and free snow cones for all.

It’s a big celebration for what began as a big dream of Joe Chesko’s that began its journey to reality in 2018. Two years later, a sign was erected next to the exiting playground to give visitors a visual of what would followed. All he wanted was to offer kids with disabilities a place to play.

Following Chesko’s unexpected death in May 2021, Klein, his long-time friend, business collaborator and admitted “gofer” for his mission to build the Children United Park, stepped up.

When he first shared his goal and asked her to participate, she called it an offer she couldn’t refuse. Seeing Chesko’s vision become a landmark is something Klein said makes him proud looking on from his new home.

“Oh, you know he is,” she said. “Very definitely.”

Klein said there will be three plaques placed on the park’s retaining wall in the future. One will be to recognize Chesko, another for all who contributed and a third recognizing the committee and all who made it become reality.

Fundraising leaped since the groundbreaking last year where the total was $530,000. Klein said a total of $1,208,000 was raised to build and equip this ambitious project.

In the past year, the park was constructed in phases. After looking at the park Friday morning, Klein said, it’s overwhelming how the Children United playground became something more than envisioned. It grew bigger with each phase.

“I was just thinking the other day how it all changed based on the different phases,” she said. “And then when they finished it, it went from big to massive. It’s looking so good.”

The large, accessible playground equipment is anchored 6 feet below the ground. Ramps are wider than normal to accommodate wheelchairs and wagons.

There’s also specialized equipment including a wheelchair swing, where a child in a wheelchair can be wheeled up and locked into position. On the opposite bench, friends or family can swing together. A wheelchair merry-go-round able to hold three wheelchairs at a time is another unique feature. Musical equipment offers a sensory area for autistic children.

The playground is set on a rubberized surface that will help protect children from falls while ensuring a level surface that will support children using walkers, canes and wheelchairs.

Klein said this playground will offer the oft-overlooked children from the community a chance to simply be a kid.

“It really registered with me how much space there is for children in wheelchairs to navigate and get around and participate,” she said. “That is awesome.”

Now that it’s built, Klein hopes the word gets out to these children and their families that the park is available. Klein said the local AMBUCS have been a great help. Through their efforts to get Amtrykes for those in need, they have a lot of contacts.

Another attraction, and this one’s for the eyes, is the mural painted on the retaining wall by Darry and Terry Shaw. Klein said her only concern are the potential actions of vandals.

“It’s really nice,” she said. “I talked to Terry and Darry about finding something to put on the surface to make it easier to clean if there was any graffiti on there. They said it would cause yellowing and that it would be cheaper to call them to fix whatever whoever does.”

“Hopefully,” she said, “the force will be with us.”