September 23, 2022
The Winnetka Park District will be constructing a new playground at Nick Corwin Park starting the week of October 3, 2022. The current playground was installed in 1999 and has provided 23 wonderful years of service to the community. To meet current safety standards, the aging equipment will be replaced. As well, the area of park that hosts the equipment must be expanded to meet the current safety zones. The Park District wants to improve the play experience and visual appeal of the playground to benefit residents who use the park as well as those who live in the neighborhood. The Park District is excited to provide the community with brand-new equipment and additional beautification of the park.
The new playground will have a nature theme that increases the variety of play activities for the children while making it accessible. The new equipment will incorporate a green and brown color palette similar to the existing playground. Triangular fabric roofs will provide shade over the play structures. A new play pit will provide a wood fiber play surface of sufficient size to accommodate the required safety use zones. At the east end of the playground, a circular sand pit, surrounded by a raised concrete seat wall, will provide little children a safe place to play away from more active equipment.
The current playground equipment will begin disassembly October 5. The Park District will be donating the equipment to a local Scout Troop 18 member, Jake Claybrook, as a part of his Scout Project. Jake will be working with Future Builder Scouts, an after-school enrichment program in Ghana, West Africa, to pack, ship, and reconstruct the playground in Ghana for their community to enjoy. Disassembly and loading the shipment container is expected to conclude October 10.
Once the shipment container has been removed, demolition will begin. The new playground equipment will arrive by the end of October.
The new equipment includes a handhold leg lift, swing structure with an adaptive swing, curva spinner, we-saw, tree tops play structure, sprig play structure, noodle pods, saddle spinner, chatter noodle, and bobble rider. A rendering of the new playground area can be viewed here.
In addition to the new playground, the area surrounding the playground also will receive improvements to include elements such as curbing, landscaping, and a larger play area. A rendering of the new layout can be viewed here.
The overall project is slated to be completed by the end of November.
During construction, we encourage you and your family to explore our other parks. The nearest park with a playground is Hubbard Woods Park, located at 939 Old Green Bay Road, Winnetka, IL 60093. Check out our other parks with playgrounds here.
Should you have questions regarding this project, please reach out to Costa Kutulas, director of parks and maintenance, at ckutulas@winpark.org.
We appreciate the support and understanding during this time and look forward to the community enjoying the new Nick Corwin Park playground!
