Zemurray Park Community Build

Republished with permission from the Hammond Daily Star
By: William B. Carroll

Renovations at Zemurray park will be continuing this spring as the Hammond City Council accepted a bid Tuesday for new playground equipment to be installed at the park.

The project continues a series of projects which are part of what Hammond Mayor Mayson Foster has called the revitalization of Zemurray Park. The equipment will be provided by Planet Recess/Play World of Baton Rouge, which was the only responsive bidder on the project.

Crews are still finishing the final work on the well project at the park. Multiple days of rain over the last couple of months have put crews back a bit in completing the project.

Hammond Grants Administrator Lacy Landrum said that the new playground equipment will be put in to replace the older playground equipment already at the park.

“The current playground will be torn down including the swing set which is par of the play area and the new playground and swing set will be installed in its place,”
Landrum said.

“The new equipment is great and I have already been getting comments from parents that they are excited about the new equipment.”

The project is going to be part of a community build at the park on April 6. Landrum said that Planet Recess/Play World will be performing preparatory work on the project as well as overseeing the community build project and the rubberizing of the playground area.

“The playground will be on a concrete pad which will be laid out approximately one week prior to the community build,” Landrum said.

“On April 5, Planet Recess will deliver the equipment and we will assemble the entire playground Saturday morning. Planet Recess will have a site manager onsite to supervise the woek who will do a final quality assurance check on the entire project.”

Planet Recess will complete the project by pouring the rubberized surface the week after the community build.

“The playground will be out of business for about two weeks while the project is completed,” Landrum said.

Landrum said that the city invites anyone that wants to participate in the community build to come out to the park on April 6.

“We want everyone to come out and enjoy the park, even if they don’t feel they can haul equipment or assemble the playground,” Landrum said. “Food has been donated for the event, and Kiwanis will be doing the project as part of their One Day of Service program, which is scheduled the same date.”

Anyone interested in volunteering or businesses who may be interested in contributing to the project is asked to contact the City of Hammond Grants Department at 985-277-5650.