The new playground equipment at Kerry Park has been a hot commodity for youngsters since it was installed in June.
The $31,000 structure was funded by money raised during the 2011 Pennies for Play campaign. The project, spearheaded by resident Robin Bjorkquist, was intended to raise money for playground equipment as well as to invite and entice the Minnesota Vikings to visit the International Falls community.
“We didn’t get a Viking visit as we had hoped, but we did get new equipment and that was the end result we were looking for,” Bjorkquist said.
The five-month project raised about $17,000 towards new equipment. The other half was funded by a grant from GameTime, a playground equipment company.
Bjorkquist said the playground equipment was replaced because the other structure had missing parts and was more than 20 years old.
Purple and gold was selected as the colors for the new equipment in honor of school colors in the Falls as well as Vikings colors.
“I think it looks great,” Bjorkquist said of the structure. “It’s exciting to have shiny, new equipment for the kids to play on. Without the community support, it would have never happened. It was awesome that this community stepped up and donated as much as they did.”
