Nearly one year ago, the 150-year-old city of Elgin, Texas, opened a new playground, manufactured by BCI Burke, at Thomas Memorial Park. It is built on land donated by the Thomas family in the 1970s and created in partnership with fun abounds, our Representative in southern Texas.

The incredible playspace is double the size of its predecessor, offers accessible features for children of all ages and has a large, shaded seating area.

With the first anniversary of the grand opening approaching, we reached out to Elizabeth Marzec, recreation and leisure services manager for the city’s parks and recreation department, to learn more about the playground’s impact on the community.

“Elgin families are staying and playing longer in the park, and the community has more space to gather and enjoy each other’s company,” Marzec says. “At a recent event hosted in Thomas Memorial Park, families shared how much they love the new playground and how their kids look forward to coming to the park after school and on weekends.

“Parents particularly love that there is a wide variety of activities kids can participate in, from spinning and climbing to sliding and swinging,” she adds.

The playspace features swings with integrated shades and the dynamic Nucleus Evolution^® play structure that provides new vistas, adventures and perspectives at every turn. Novo^® Playful Furniture adds a contemporary and creative touch, giving children even more places to rest, socialize and engage in imaginative play.

The playground also boasts MOVMNT^® Inclusive, an electronic game that tests agility and speed. Marzec says it is her favorite play event.

“While the whole park is bustling on any given evening, the MOVMNT has to be the winner!” she says. “When we first proposed having a people-powered, Simon Says-style game in the park, people thought it sounded weird, but now, anytime you visit, you can hear the telltale whirring of the MOVMNT being charged up, and kids and families laughing as they play.

“What’s really amazing about it is that it appeals to all ages, including our teenagers, and is something parents can easily play with their kids,” she continues. “I feel the mark of a truly inclusive and accessible playground is that it doesn’t feel different from any other playground, and all elements are enjoyed by all people. Thomas Memorial Park really excels with this.”

Indeed, the playspace also utilizes unitary surfacing that allows ease of access to all play events, swings that can accommodate differently abled participants and ground-level play areas throughout.

It also offers thrills for children who seek an extra dose of adventure. According to Marzec, the second most popular piece of equipment is the hillside slide, which travels from the top of a tower to the base of a natural hill, dropping an impressive 15 feet, 9 inches.

“It’s great watching children have fun and get fit climbing the tower, sliding and then running back up the hill to climb all over again,” she remarks.

During the design phase, Marzec remembers, the community overwhelmingly wanted to see hillside play included. Designers were able to incorporate the park’s natural topography into the playspace and fulfill that desire.

“Thomas Memorial Park has become a destination playground, with more people discovering it every week — to the point that the City of Elgin is looking into adding a new parking lot to accommodate the increased park usage,” Marzec says. “Neighbors around the park are able to walk over and mingle with residents from across the city as they sit in the shade of the purple pavilions, watching their kids play and make new friends.”

Purple, which honors the Elgin Wildcats, is Thomas Memorial Park’s signature color.

“Thomas Memorial Park has been known as the Purple Park for as long as I can remember,” Marzec says. “Being able to replace the old purple playground with this vibrant, modernized, new purple playground is a great enhancement to the Elgin community that remains true to the park’s moniker.”

She notes that this playspace was a high priority for the City of Elgin. Prior to its addition, Thomas Memorial Park had the last remaining original playground in the city.

“All the other playgrounds in town had recently been upgraded due to age and damage,” she explains. “Thomas Memorial Park is the only park located east of town, and it provides much-needed community green space, so city staff were honored to have the opportunity to work with the community to create this dream playground.”

Contact your nearest Burke representative to learn more about how you can create a new playspace, or reimagine an existing one, for your community.