Forest Park To Remodel South Playground, Add Adult Fitness Area

The south playground in Forest Park will close Monday, April 3 to be remodeled. The area is expected to be under construction until the end of May.

“Playgrounds, trails and other parks amenities are not only an added value to a community but an expectation, which is why Noblesville is dedicated to investing in these quality of life areas,” said Mayor Chris Jensen. “The new equipment will be for ages 2-12 as well as a new adult fitness aspect to make it a well-rounded playground for all ages.”

The playground design was created by Recreation InSites and features Kompan play equipment. The city is keeping two structures: the Kompan Double Tower that was installed last year as a replacement piece for another structure and the popular Expression Swing, which allows the user to sit and face and interact with their small child while swinging together.

“The anchor to the new playground design is Kompan’s custom Giant XL tower connected by a net bridge to the Giant medium sensory tower with a tree and nature theme, allowing users to explore the wonderful world hidden in the forest of trees at Forest Park,” Parks Director Brandon Bennett said. “This is a complete renovation of the entire playground, including the surfacing.”

Bennett said the playground is adding new swings, elevated balance pods, an Inclusive Twister, preschool springers, and other surface climbing elements. The new design also adds an adult fitness area outside of the playground so adults or caregivers can exercise while watching their kids on the playground.

“The surfacing will be updated to Forever Lawn, which is an artificial grass surface with impact attenuation capabilities that will make the playground more accessible and maintenance friendly,” said Bennett. “We are excited to bring this playground to Forest Park and hope that it meets our goal of creating a themed regional destination that serves as a unique play experience for its users and has that ‘wow’ factor.”

In the past few years, the parks and recreation department has removed three playground pieces that were determined in need of replacement by Certified Playground Safety Inspectors on staff. It was further determined that the overall playground needed to be updated.

“We are remodeling this playground for several reasons, but the main reason is the safety of the older equipment as many components are wearing out and either need replaced or removed,” said Bennett. “Doing this renovation also allows the city to upgrade the surface to a modern and accessible surface that will eliminate many maintenance concerns with the existing safety surface.”

The north playground at Forest Park will remain open during construction. Timing for the south playground remodel was scheduled based on availability of the new equipment and weather conditions conducive for the construction work.  The city also has playgrounds at Dillon Park, Finch Creek Park, Federal Hill Commons, Seminary Park and Southside Park; in addition to a disc golf course, two skate parks, six Pickleball courts, three parks with basketball courts, two tennis courts, four sand volleyball courts and over 127 miles of trails, connector sidewalks and greenways throughout the community.