Educational playground to ‘put Ronan on the map’
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Ronan’s city park has become the cornerstone of almost every community event. From concerts to Harvest Fest to field trips to the Parade of Lights, the park has something for everyone.
Understanding this well, Ronan Parks Director Jennifer Rolfsness had an epiphany several years ago while attending the National Trails Conference in Tennessee.
“It’s a new concept that they were developing,” Rolfsness said. “Instead of jungle gyms and slides and stuff in one spot, you move from play pocket to play pocket while learning and having fun.”
Rolfsness said she was so intrigued by the concept she immediately approached the event speakers and asked if they would be interested in a partnership to build a similar park specifically themed for an Indian reservation.
“I was just in awe of this concept,” Rolfsness said. “I told them about where we live, the natural resources like the lake, Spring Creek, and how culturally rich the area is.”
The conference speakers turned out to be Gametime and Pathways for Play — designers of custom playground equipment whose mission statement reads, “Enriching Children, Enriching Communities.”
Less than five hours after learning about Gametime and their new approach to playground equipment, Rolfsness had mobilized several friends in Ronan to brainstorm park ideas. Soon after, Gametime employees made a trip to Ronan to take a look at the park and hear Rolfsness’ ideas.
“They were super psyched,” she said. “I mentally had these concepts I wanted to achieve with the playground. Our main concern is reducing diabetes and obesity. Basically, we’re going to try and engage kids and get them to play outside again.
“Even in light of what happened in Connecticut, I think it’s important that we return to some of our values — our play values outside.”
What sets Ronan’s park plans apart from anything else Gametime has previously undertaken is the custom-tailored design of the park. All equipment will be custom-molded to showcase the various cultures around the Mission Valley and the natural resources on the reservation.
One play-pocket is a jungle gym featuring the three different phases of a frog’s life, (egg, tadpole and frog) to teach kids about biology while they play.
“This has never been done in the United States or anywhere else, really,” Rolfsness said. “It will make the park a destination and put Ronan on the map.”
A set of paw prints from many different animals indigenous to the Flathead Reservation leads to a wall containing pictures of the animals. When the kids step on the bear’s paw print, for example, the wall will erupt with a grizzly bear’s roar. To figure out which animal made the sound, the kids must run up to the wall and learn the animal’s name in Salish, Kootenai and English. Both the Salish and Kootenai culture committees as well as Nkwusum language school have agreed to help with the project.
“They’ve been so great about offering support for the project from different departments ... we’ll be working hand-in-hand with both the Salish and Kootenai culture committees and Nkwusum as the project progresses,” Rolfsness explained.
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes tribal fitness center manager Margene Asay said she supported the play-pockets from day one.
“I put a priority on kids and their health and wellbeing — both personally and professionally,” she said. “What a great way to interact with kids, the community and schools. I think it’s really important that we work together — all of us — because they’re our kids. They’re all our kids.”
Asay said the tribes had been very supportive of the project and gave a great deal of credit to Rolfsness and her “ambition and excitement” while working on the project.
Still another play-pocket is the “culture stone” where kids can place their hands on the stone and hear recorded powwow drum and jingle-dress sounds.
“They’re essentially learning with the spin of the electronic stuff (while) still outside playing. We’re really trying to extend the play value and create a good environmental basis and appreciation for the area that we’re so lucky to live in,” Rolfsness said. “I view it as an outdoor classroom. The kids will be playing, but they’ll also be engaging in something educational.”
Gametime was so impressed with the designs that the company chose Ronan as a national demonstration site for future projects.
“It’s going to bridge so many different things that people are always looking to solve. It’s going to bring a cultural appreciation and awareness; it will present a lot of preservation information and information about our natural resources, and teach kids about protecting our environment. And the combination of putting the languages with the outdoor play makes this an awesome project,” Rolfsness said.
In addition, the park will cost local residents absolutely nothing. Rolfsness and her team have been fundraising, collecting donations, writing grants and soliciting sponsorships and funds on a national and corporate level for a number of years.
Rolfsness said she’d raised about $45,000 so far but needs an additional $100,000 before Gametime can start building the first play-pocket. She hopes to raise this money by the end of March and have the first play-pocket completed by the end of summer.
Ronan City Council member Chris Adler said he thinks the park renovation is a good idea, but that is concerned local residents think the money is coming from their taxes.
“The park is a great thing we’ve got as is, but (the new play-pockets) will definitely attract more kids. It’s a cool thing,” he said.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a celebration in (this) new year by getting the project done this summer,” Asay said.
