In November 2015, Wrightsville Beach was awarded a $300,000 grant from a regional healthcare organization to add handicap-accessible playground equipment to Wrightsville Beach Park, and Feb. 11 town leaders selected a playground design that should be installed by the end of May.
Trillium Health Resources awarded the Play Together Construction Grant, which funds inclusive equipment meant for people of all ages and abilities. The grant allowed some flexibility over the playground’s appearance, so the town solicited design concepts from five vendors.
During its Feb. 11 meeting, board of aldermen chose a design from PlayWorld with a variety of brightly colored equipment including teeter-totters, domes, slides and a wheelchair-accessible swing called a Liberty Swing. The new playground will be constructed in the footprint of the existing equipment, which will be removed.
Parks and recreation program supervisor Katie Ryan said the department plans to move some of the old equipment to the Harbor Way Garden on the west side of Wrightsville Beach Park.
She said if all goes as planned, the playground would be constructed in early spring and be finished by May 15.
