What are some of your best memories from childhood? For me, all of them begin outdoors and always with a group of neighborhood kids. The Northwoods graces us with so many wonderful quality of life attributes but finding a true “neighborhood” usually isn’t one of them.

Most of us, all of us really, will take that trade off to be fortunate enough to live in this extraordinary place. What if we were able to provide a place to build a neighborhood? Where families can gather to watch their children grow, engage, and learn.

The town of Boulder Junction in conjunction with the Boulder Junction Community Foundation and a group of dedicated volunteers want to make that happen. Together with your help, we are fundraising to bring a brand-new playground, zip-line, and ninja warrior area to our community. This will replace the existing equipment located behind the Sturm Memorial Ball Field and brand-new restrooms in Boulder Junction.

The new playground area will consist of 4 sections: 2–5-year-old area, 5–12-year-old area, an inclusive area which includes a zip line and 2 other pieces of equipment, and the ninja warrior area. As you can imagine, this is going to encompass a much larger area than the current playground. There will be pathways connecting all the areas, additional seating with cover, and fencing to ensure the safety of the children from the bike path and nearby parking lot.

On our website and our Facebook page you can find renderings of the equipment from Gerber Leisure, who we had design the playground and will build the new playground this fall. They are a Wisconsin based company and you can see their work in other areas like Marshfield, Wausau, and Eau Claire.

Over the course of the next year, keep an eye out for fundraising events. We are already planning a carnival and concert behind the Boulder Junction Community Center for the middle of June. This will include kid friendly fair games, food, drinks, and a music concert by local artist Olivia England and Roy Rivers, a John Denver tribute artist. We are still in need of volunteers as we begin our fundraising efforts. If you are interested, please fill out the form on our website: www.boulderatplay.com, or just shoot us an email: boulderatplay@gmail.com.

Thank you for considering the future of our community and our children. Our hope is to provide a space for imagination, growth, and learning that is accessible to all children. We would love for you to be a part of that!