The biggest playground in town is coming to Nichols Park.
The 17-acre park, established in 1952 on at 1900 W. Nichols Ave., will have a colorful new interactive playground in place this spring.
“This will be the largest single playground unit that we’ll have on any of our properties,” said Springfield-Greene County Park Board Assistant Director Miles Park. “The closest comparison we have is the playground at Dan Kinney Park. It’ll be a destination playground.”
The new Nichols Park playground includes a main structure with five slides, multiple climbing structures, two towers, sound effects, a telescope and rotating ShadowPlay features. Nearby there are four kinds of swings, a seated Merry-Go-All and plenty of shaded benches. The playground incorporates Universal design, which is accessible to kids of all abilities, including complete ramp access, ADA accessible swings, three slides with ADA transfer platforms and a rubberized tile surface throughout.
Park said he’s looking forward to seeing kids discover the interactive ShadowPlay features.
“It resembles an oversized flower with multicolored petals,” he said. “It all rotates with a hand crank, and the sunlight shines through the petals to make patterns on the ground, similar to a kaleidoscope.”
The Nichols Park playground is funded through a federal Community Development Block Grant, coming to the City of Springfield through the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program. The same grant is funding new playground equipment at Cooper Park, Meador Park, and Tom Watkins Park, all planned to be installed this spring.
The HUD grant also funds new walking trails at Meador, Nichols and Tom Watkins parks, as well as a new section of Jordan Creek Greenway, along Bennett Street, between Cruse Dog Park and Ewing Park.
HUD funding is also in place for restrooms and a support structure at Tom Watkins Park, soccer goals at Nichols Park, and new picnic tables, park benches, signage at several locations. Plans and specifications are well underway for these projects.
The Park Board plans multiple ribbon cuttings for new playgrounds and other improvements in late spring or early summer.