Augusta's New Extreme Playground Is The Tallest In Kansas

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 4, 2018

Contact: Kate Bosserman

Phone: 316-425-4504

Augusta’s New Extreme Playground is the Tallest in Kansas
Ribbon Cutting set for 6 p.m., Friday, October 5

Augusta, Kansas, October 2018 – The City of Augusta will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new extreme playground at 6 p.m., Friday, October 5, 2018, at 614 N. State Street.

The ribbon cutting is part of the City’s 150th Birthday Celebration including a carnival on State Street in front of the playground.

The Dalton Palmer Memorial Downtown Park is the tallest playground in Kansas and one of three in the nation according to manufacturer Miracle Recreation Equipment. The unique extreme generation (XGEN) playground features:

  • a nearly 30-foot tower with a 16-foot deck and 30-foot slide;
  • two towers reaching more than 26- and 24-feet high, each with 12-foot decks and tunnel slides;
  • three 20-foot, fully enclosed skyways connecting at 12-feet high; each featuring a challenging activity to help develop children's overall strength, coordination, and proprioception; and 
  • a one-of-a-kind gravity rail that swings riders around a rollercoaster-like circular track.

The park memorializes and celebrates the life of Dalton Palmer, an Augusta teenager tragically killed in an ATV accident in November 2014.

“Creating this unique space has truly been a community effort,” Mayor Mike Rawlings said. “The Pride and Progress sales tax contributed approximately $300,000 toward the purchase and installation of the extreme playground equipment. The Palmer family donated the property. Alan’s Excavating and Jake Jackson donated time and equipment to clear and level the ground. Augusta Rental donated equipment. The Butler County Landfill worked with us on disposing the debris. City of Augusta staff coordinated the project and installed the drainage system.

“Next, we will add wrought-iron fencing, lighting, and bench seating. Then we want to secure donations, and possibly a grant, to replace the wood fiber surface with a rubberized soft surface,” Rawlings said. The soft surface is estimated at $200,000.

The project has already received donations from community members, Augusta Progress, Inc., Rotary Club of Andover, and Downtown Augusta, Inc.

Augusta’s newest playground sits at the edge of Augusta’s charming and historic downtown, just south of Highway 54/400, and the Augusta Historic Frisco Train Depot and Welcome Center. This extreme playground joins Augusta’s other recently-built parks including:

  • the glow-in-the-dark disc golf course,
  • splash pad with full-body stand-up drier,
  • little league baseball pavilion, and
  • dog park.

The City is also exploring plans to add a skate park, and walking-trail through downtown along the old Frisco railroad line.

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