Des Moines River Dental Care Playground at North Municipal Park
Currently Under Construction
Project Start: March 2023
Estimated Cost: ≈ $650,000
In the summer of 2022, Dr. Emma Villiard with Des Moines River Dental Care approached the City with an exciting opportunity. She and her husband, Dr. Tyler Villiard, wanted to give back to the Carlisle community. To do this, they wanted to utilize another passion of theirs: making parks more physically accessible to kids. Through several conversations with Council and city staff, it was identified that the Villiard's passion may be able to also breathe some new life into North Municipal Park, which turned 100 years old in 2022.
In late summer, Emma approached the City Council to get approval to place a 7,605 square foot destination playground in the heart of North Park. Her plan includes a large piece featuring at least 5 slides, climbing rocks, bridges, monkey bars, and many other features. In addition, the area will have 8 swings, 2 of which will be ADA compliant, and an area with music equipment. Best of all, the play structure will be placed on rubber surfacing and have wide ramps, making it and the swings completely handicap accessible. Seeing Emma's passion for the project, Council unanimously approved the location and told her to continue to work with city staff on finalizing her plan. Since that approval, the Villiards have been working closely with the city to finalize the plans. To ensure that the playground is a success, the city is exploring opportunities to make the bathrooms at North Park ADA compliant, where to add accessible sidewalks, and additional parking in the area.
To bring their vision to life, Des Moines River Dental Care has committed a significant amount of seed money to get the project off the ground. Since the playground is meant to benefit the whole community, they have also partnered with the Friends of the Carlisle Parks to provide an opportunity for residents and businesses to help give back to our community and bring this destination playground to Carlisle's North Park. A gofundme has been created so you can help bring this vision to Carlisle! You can also follow the QR code here.
To keep up on what is going on with the project, like and follow the project page on Facebook by clicking here.
