GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Children in southeast Grand Rapids will soon get to enjoy a new playground space at Mulick Park.

Junior League of Grand Rapids, Sinclair Recreation and other volunteers spent the entire day Saturday putting the equipment together.

It’s part of the Junior League’s Wellness Initative.

“We do some research we partner with community partners to bring a safe interactive playspace to areas of Grand Rapids where that doesn’t exist within walking distance for much of the community,” President of Junior League of Grand Rapids, Kim Crane said.

It’s the fifth playground the organization has helped put together since 2014. Members say this project has been two years in the making.

“We’ve had delays in shipping and manufacturing then Covid, so we were originally going to do this last fall but all the equipment came later and we ended up storing it for the winter,” Chair of Wellness Yard Committee, Megan Lempke said.

According to the City of Grand Rapids, neighbors living near the park shared their ideas on the design of the new playground in summer 2021.

The project is funded by a $25,000 grant from the Junior League of Grand Rapids, a $26,000 GameTime grant, and $80,000 from the Parks Improvement Millage passed by voters in 2019.

Before this weekend, there was a small playspace but now kids will get to play in a much a larger area with more play options.

“There will be more swingsets, play pieces and more climbing features,” Director of Grand Rapids Parks and Recreation David Marquardt said.

Junior League has partnered with Sinclair Recreation, who guided the project. Soon it’ll be officially complete for kids near and far.

“The city still has to come back next week and do the mulching and fill that in so we have about another week before we can actually play on it,” Lempke said.

To learn more, visit the Junior League website.