Redmond’s million-dollar baby, Hope Playground, will be getting an approximately $50,000 addition — an accessible merry-go-round — once community members step up to help pay for it:

The playground at Sam Johnson Park in Redmond is considered the most accessible in the state for all ages and abilities. Toward the end of fundraising for it , a local resident donated $125,000 with a matching component.

The same anonymous donor has now pledged $25,000 toward the merry-go-round, if community members can raise about $24,000 . So far they’ve offered up about $1,500.

The merry-go-round will be a push-pull-style platform that spins with the help of manpower, not a carnival-type ride with wooden horses. To provide better accessibility, once installed, the merry-go-round will be flush with the ground. A wheelchair user, for example, could roll right onto it.

There will also be handlebars and benches, so users can sit or stand.

Heather Richards, Redmond’s community development director, has acted as project manager for the playground, which opened in October. She realizes some community members may balk at the merry-go-round’s price tag, but she explained the cost is worth it .

“What I have heard is, ‘Wow that’s a lot of money for a merry-go-round,’” Richards said Friday, adding that she and other staffers “want to make sure it’s safe and inclusive.”

“That’s why this particular piece of equipment is expensive … it’s the value of what we’re trying to achieve at the park,” she said.

The park already has slides, a zip line, swings and a climbing structure meant to resemble Smith Rock’s Monkey Face.

Including a merry-go-round was part of the plan since the beginning, Richards said. When the city began looking at costs for one before, staffers decided it could wait. But it was included in the layout and will be placed near the swings.

“It’s all been designed to accept it,” Richards said.

Richards and others with the city have consulted planners of a similar accessible park in Palo Alto, California, called Magical Bridge Playground. The Palo Alto playground opened just a couple of months before Hope Playground last fall, Richards said, and it already has an accessible merry-go-round, the same kind Redmond hopes to purchase.

Richards said part of what makes the piece of equipment expensive, other than it being specially accessible, is that it comes from a German company. It would have to be shipped from Europe.

“We’re probably still looking at several months, once we get the funds, before it’s installed,” Richards said, adding the accessibility factor is worth the time and money. “That’s what’s important to us and why we’re willing to wait — the inclusivity value is critical.”

Since its opening, the playground has needed a few fixes.

“We’re working through some kinks,” Richards said. The soft flooring that covers the playground recently needed to have cracks repaired, for example.

“What makes it tough for installing that type of floor, especially in Central Oregon, is when it’s setting, there can’t be extreme temperature changes between morning and night,” Richards said. The flooring was installed in September, but after a cold winter, some cracking occurred, which was to be expected. Richards said the flooring has a seven-year warranty so the company that laid it made the repairs.

The soft flooring cost nearly $180,000, according to Jason Neff, the city’s deputy director of central services. In total, the park cost $1,102,572.

Gary Ollerenshaw, a Redmond Kiwanis Club member and former president, has been a central player in the project since the beginning. He said so far the $1,500 raised to match the $25,000 has been made in single donations by community members. He and others involved in the project plan to ask local businesses for more substantial donations as they did before.

“We were a little shocked with the price, but we feel it’s important to finish off what our main goal was with the playground which was to be totally inclusive,” he said. “I feel confident we’ll get there.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0325,

kfisicaro@bendbulletin.com