PORT ANGELES — Children’s artwork will decorate the Dream Playground during Family Fun Day on Saturday.
The annual celebration will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the park at Race and Fourth streets in Port Angeles.
Children’s activities, Coast Guard and fire equipment, free ice cream, popcorn and soda are planned.
New this year is an art exhibition. Children are asked to bring to the celebration artwork showing their favorite thing to do at the playground.
It will be displayed in the pavilion throughout the day, and each child who brings artwork will be given a prize, said Dream Playground Foundation President Steve Charno.
“We’ve got a lot planned, so we’d love to see a lot of families come out,” Charno said.
“It’s a day of all play and no work. We just want the kids to come and have fun . . . We’d love to see people bring picnic lunches and enjoy them in the new pavilion.”
The foundation hosts the free event every year near the anniversary of the playground’s construction.
The Dream Playground was built over five days in September 2002 by more than 2,000 local volunteers.
Maintenance work
Maintenance work was done Aug. 28.
Dozens of volunteers applied fresh wood sealant, did light repairs, repainted the climbing wall, installed new sponsor pickets and performed general cleanup and beautification at the facility.
“The maintenance went well, and the structure is ready for another year of use,” Charno said.
“Port Angeles’ playground has a service life of 20 to 30 years, depending on how well it is maintained,” he said.
“Our goal is to keep it in great shape through annual volunteer maintenance until we eventually need to replace it.”
The foundation, formed in 2002, organizes fundraising to pay for equipment repair and replacement, as well as to build a fund for the eventual overhaul or replacement of the 12,000-square-foot facility.
The playground was the brainchild of several community members who had seen similar structures in other areas of the country, Charno said.
“The construction was intentionally started on Sept. 11, 2002, as a statement that hope and the American spirit remained strong and would move forward in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks of 2001,” he said.
Starting in February 2002, the playground committee, in partnership with Kiwanis, raised more than $185,000, nearly all from local businesses and individuals, to pay for the construction.
Many local businesses have donated materials.
Added since 2002
Since the original 2002 construction, the foundation has constructed the hand tile structures, entrance plaza, benches and tables, a new sidewalk with sponsor bricks and a pavilion.
It has also erected a totem pole carved by Al Charles Jr. and donated by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.
Kiwanis Club of Port Angeles and Kiwanis Foundation of Port Angeles have been founding sponsors and major supporters of the playground effort.
Other current major sponsors are First Federal, the Albert Haller Foundation, the Benjamin N. Phillips Fund of the Seattle Foundation, Gibson Design Group, Aldergrove Construction Inc., Port Angeles firefighters, Peninsula Children’s Clinic, Angeles Millwork & Lumber Co., Sterling Savings Bank, Family Medicine of Port Angeles and 7 Cedars Casino.