Riverfront KaBOOM! Play Scape, Now Ready at Rivard Plaza

The Detroit RiverFront Conservancy is pleased to announce the completion of an exciting project that will serve our riverfront visitors and their families, the completion of a new play scape. Located at the southeast corner of Rivard and Atwater Street adjacent to Rivard Plaza, the brightly colored play scape and ancillary amenities such as picnic tables, bird houses and mosaic tiles will provide a safe place for children and their families to play and enjoy the beauty of our revitalized riverfront.

Working in conjunction with our generous funding partner, Bank of America, and with additional support from the Kresge Foundation, the Conservancy partnered on the project with KaBOOM!, a non-profit organization dedicated to making play scapes available to children in urban areas. Through these important collaborations, the Conservancy was able to bring the dream of a children’s play scape on the riverfront to fruition.

More than 150 volunteers from Bank of America, the Conservancy’s corps of volunteers, the U.S. Coast Guard and the community came together on October 20 to build the play scape in one day. With features including swings, slides, monkey bars and an enticing climbing structure, the play scape will provide a wonderful place for children to play and families to recreate for years to come.

We are most appreciative for the financial support provided by Bank of America and the Kresge Foundation that played a major role in making the play scape possible. The play scape is located on land made available by our partnership with the City of Detroit and the State of Michigan. We are also grateful for the expertise and counsel from the Department of Natural Resources, as well as Tooles Construction and JJR, who were invaluable in the coordination of the technical aspects and systems implementation required to build the play scape. Partnerships such as these are critical to our ongoing success in ensuring that the riverfront remains one of this region’s greatest community assets. A major thank you goes to our tireless volunteers who devoted their time and talent to the project despite rain and chilly temperatures.

This colorful and creative play scape provides yet another exciting destination for families to enjoy together. The project serves as a model for our continued development and it would not have been possible without the public, private, corporate, and community partnerships that the Conservancy enjoys.

We will hold a special grand opening of the play scape in spring 2012, when both adults and children can applaud the great spirit of the teamwork, dedication and collaboration that made this project possible as we come together once again to celebrate our beautiful riverfront as a place to live, work and play.