Swampscott residents gather to build playground equipment

SWAMPSCOTT – Five long years of setbacks, fundraising and planning came to fruition Saturday for Swampscott residents who have dreamed of turning a field at the base of the town’s high school into a park.Close to 30 residents helped erect a play structure Saturday that will be the heart of Jackson Park, a playground and park at the intersection of Essex Street and Burpee Road.For resident Kevin Donaher, Saturday was a long time coming. He helped form a volunteer group to build the park in 2007 after the new Swampscott High School was built on a portion of the existing 100-year-old park, which once included tennis courts, a Girl Scout Camp and an outdoor ice rink. But fundraising for the roughly $150,000 project took time, as the group raised the cash bit by bit with weekly metal drives.”It’s an amazing feeling, it really is,” Kevin Donaher said. “For all the years we’ve been at this to finally see it taking some shape is just tremendous.”On Saturday, volunteers erected a blue playground complete with two slides, a jungle gym, monkey bars and two climbing structures.”It’s just amazing to look up and actually see a structure,” said Donaher’s wife, Karen Donaher.Karen Donaher said the group made sure the structure of the playground promotes cognitive and physical development for children who use it.”They actually can think about where they want to go, how they want to climb it, do they want to get off here,” she said.Over the next few weeks, the crew plans to install a half-basketball court and a netted structure resembling a spider web for children to climb in and out of.”We’re very proud of this piece,” Karen Donaher said of the web structure. “We don’t have anything similar to that in Swampscott.”More long-term plans include installing benches, trees and a rest area and outfitting a 1950s building behind the playground to project movies and hold concerts.”The whole idea here is to make it the feel of a park and not so much a playground,” Kevin Donaher said. ” ? We’re hoping this will create that kind of neighborhood feel again.”The Donahers, along with core volunteers Joe Markarian, John Picariello, Chris Miles and Myriam Rosen, launched the project while many of their children were still in grade school.On Saturday, 15-year-old Matt Donaher and Brady Miles were old enough to wield hammers and help build the playground.”It’s actually kind of cool,” Brady Miles said. “I remember playing on that one,” he said, pointing to a small playground on a knoll above the new one, “and looking out on this entire field. And now kids will be playing on this one looking out on the same field.”Matt Donaher, who plays baseball and basketball for Swampscott High School, said he thinks the park will be used by kids his age as well, especially the half-basketball court.”I think that will be good for the town’s athletic program,” he said. “It will make it so kids on this side of town can practice.”Brady Miles’ father, Chris Miles, said he thinks the end result of the park will be something the neighborhood will cherish forever.”If it comes to fruition like I think it will, I can say ?Wow, I was part of doing that beautiful thing,’ ” he said.Rosen, one of the original volunteers, said the project has proved to her the virtue of perseverance.”We were, all five of us, very determined that we weren’t just going to walk away without this being here,” she said.Beyond the accomplishment, Kevin Donaher hopes the park will make this little slice of Swampscott a better place to live.”It’s going to be a huge improvement for the quality of life for the people who live here,” he said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].