U of L Dedicates Cardinal Park Playground
October 02, 2000 | General
Oct. 5, 2000
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - An enhanced, state-of-the-art playground that can accommodate all children, including those with physical disabilities, was dedicated Thursday at the playground in the University of Louisville's Cardinal Park. Children and many area dignitaries participated in the dedication.
The 10,000 square foot facility not only grants access to those with physical disability, but was designed with those individuals in mind, and is among the best of its kind in the nation.
Funding for the project was jump-started by a $75,000 donation from the Don Fightmaster Foundation and a $350,000 state government appropriation for Cardinal Park. A U of L alumnus, Fightmaster is the founder and president of the Don Fightmaster Foundation for Exceptional Children. A member of the Kentucky Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Golf Hall of Fame, he is a seven-time national, two-time international and once senior international One-Arm Golf Champion.
Some of the specifics on the playground, which can accommodate about 400 children at one time:
- The surface consists of a seamless, poured-in place rubber.
- Play areas are available to children ages 2-12, with a separate structure for toddlers.
- Featured structures include wheelchair-accessible stepped platforms, contained accessible climbers, transfer stations and ground based activities that have been featured in the Smithsonian Museum for their advancements in accessibility allowances.
- Play structures consist of 14 slides, an elevated sandbox, an ADA-approved swing, tot swings, spring animals and ADA-approved spring animals, and two 15 -foot towers with three levels and an arched catwalk and swinging bridge.
- All structures higher than six feet are contained with see-through barriers, allowing for safety and easy supervision.
- The area exceeds or is in compliance with standards derived by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM), the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), and International Playground Equipment Manufacturers Association (IPEMA).
- A perimeter sidewalk surrounds the entire playground.
The playground is another enhancement to the Cardinal Park area, located on the eastern portion of the Belknap Campus between Floyd Street and Interstate 65.
