SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Plywood currently blocks off the entrance to the now nonexistent slide that used to carry kids down the Al Tahoe playground since it was built in the late 1990s. The playground has received no upgrades since the elementary school closed in 2004, but that’s all about to change with a new playground coming this fall.

The club decided to pursue a playground update after spending two years in their new adjacent Angel of Tahoe Building. “It’s this beautiful, great environment for the kids to thrive,” Development Directer Aimi Xistra-Rich tells the Tribune, “and we wanted something that reflected that type of feeling and dedication to the kids in their outdoor play and experience.”  

“We saw the change that it made in the kids to know that they’re so important to us, to our community,” Xistra-Rich says, “It changes their whole attitude about themselves and how they value themselves.”

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Features of the new playground even have staff excited. Particularly the side-by-side racing ziplines. “I think that’s going to be probably what every employee at this building is looking forward to most.”

The new structure will sit four times larger than the old playground. They designed it so that kids of any physical or sensory ability can use a majority of the features. Some features are spread out for those not comfortable with close play. There are also two sections, one larger and one smaller.

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“Littler or more timid children can go into the smaller area play structure and basically work their way up to be playing on the big structure,” Xistra-Rich explains.

In addition to traditional swings, the play area will have two other types of swings. The development director says one of them looks and acts like a teeter totter, “Except, let’s say that someone was in a wheelchair, can grab it with their arms and use it and somebody on the other side can either sit on it or be using their arms as well.”

Xistra-Rich says the tire swing has seen its last days on playgrounds. Insert the palmetto swings, which look like large discs with mesh on the bottom. Each can hold 3-5 kids.

In addition to a new playground, the play area will also receive a new blacktop, ball walls, and a basketball court.

Lake Tahoe’s own Ben Fish and others at Design Workshop donated staff time on Martin Luther King Jr. days this year and last year to the playground design. It was then passed to Berliner, a park manufacturer overseas.

Once created, the playground begins its journey to South Tahoe by boat. Upon it’s arrival in the east coast, it will make a road journey across the U.S. until it reaches its destination here.

That’s when local company Haen Constructors takes the baton to construct the playground. They are the same contractor that built their Angel of Tahoe building. “We are blessed to have them continue our vision of an entire amazing indoor outdoor experience for kids,” Xistra-Rich says.

It won’t be an outdoor experience just for Boys & Girls Club kids. “We called it a community playground project”, she says, “it’s literally for every child that comes in contact with this playground.”

With little league, t-ball and soccer occurring in the fields next door, all those children can utilize the playground while the club is not in session.

The club has a goal of raising $500,000 for the project. “We are really close,” the development director says. Untethered is currently matching donations up to $25,000. Xistra-Rich says any donation makes a difference to the kids. You can find the link to donate on their website, bgclt.org.