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New Bear Creek Park playground project kicks off Monday Feb 19, 2018 at 12:01 AM Buffy Pollock for the Mail Tribune The fundraising phase for replacement of the landmark Bear Creek Park playground will officially kick off at an event from 4 to 5:30 p.m. today at the park in southeast Medford. Hosted by the Medford Parks and Recreation Department, the event will provide final design and fundraising details for the more than $610,000 project expected to break ground this fall. There also will be jump houses, games and refreshments. Constructed largely with volunteer labor and donated materials in the 1980s, the old playground had long exceeded its useful lifespan when city officials announced replacement plans last year. What was once an imaginative castle-like structure with giant wood beams and play features has slowly yielded to the ravages of time. Splintered wood and slowly disappearing play features will soon be replaced. The city is committed to duplicating the same community-focused process for the new playground. Designers from Leathers Inc. are working with students at Roosevelt and Hoover elementary schools to create a replacement plan. Parks and Recreation Director Rich Rosenthal said the task of reaching a $610,000 fundraising goal in the next six months would be a tall order but that the city was focused on making it happen. “We have 150K as of right now — funds that have been raised to date and also the city funding in our parks budget in this biennium. We have an October desired construction date. We just need to raise a few hundred thousand dollars,” Rosenthal said. Greg Applen, a fundraising committee volunteer, said he was eager to see the community support the new playground. The biggest cost difference for the new structure, compared to what currently stands on the site, will be using wood composite and modern play features vs. the existing wood planks, surrounded by simple wood chips. Doing away with wood rot and splinters will improve safety and ensure the structure lasts a long time. “I grew up in the Gold Hill area. Our slides were huge, probably not too safe and very, very tall," Applen said. "On certain days, the school cook would give us the wax paper from breads and you could rocket off those things like you wouldn’t believe. I’m sure more than one kid had a bloody nose off that. “Playgrounds have really, really changed over the last 20 to 30 years from what most of us adults remember," he said. "This one will be different in its appearance than what we’re used to, but the kids helped come up with some great ideas that were put into the design that will be just as beloved as the original.” JWA senior executive Al Densmore, a former Medford mayor and state legislator who was heavily involved with the original playground project, said community support would be vital in the process. “I’ve been out in the community three and half weeks, calling on folks and trying to get the beginnings of fundraising and the volunteer process started,” Densmore said. “Monday will be our official kickoff to give people an opportunity to get together and feel like part of this movement. It’s a big challenge, but we are making good progress.” Densmore urged citizens who are able and willing to help to sign up as volunteers, just as crucial as raising money. “It will be a much bigger build than we did 30 years ago and our community is a lot more complex. We don’t have as many local manufacturing businesses as we did back then to provide in-kind help. Back then we were building an all-wood structure in a wood-based economy,” Densmore said. “This will be more complex and more expensive, but it will be really incredible to see it all come together and see the community get involved like they did the first time. I think we can make it happen.” For information, or to donate, visit www.medfordparksfoundation.org/projects/bear-creek-park.html. — Reach freelance writer Buffy Pollock at [email protected].