Franklin cut the ribbon Friday on its first all-inclusive playground, a $1 million project at Sunnyside Park designed to give kids with mobility challenges, and really every child in town, a place to play together. The grand-opening ceremony capped off construction that began a little more than a year earlier at the park on Van Raalte Street.
The Town of Franklin held the ceremony at 1 p.m., according to an announcement posted on the Town of Franklin's website. As WLOS reports, the project was funded through a $500,000 grant from the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, which the town matched with another $500,000 of its own.
Equipment Built for Every Ability
The new playground includes equipment accessible to children of different heights and abilities, according to Stacy Guffey, who said the design was meant to close a longstanding gap in what the town could offer its youngest residents. Guffey said public feedback to town council had initiated the project in the first place, after residents pointed out that children with mobility challenges previously lacked a place to play alongside other kids.
“The playground will be fun for children who previously lacked the opportunity, and for every child,” Guffey said, according to the station's report.
Years of Planning Behind the Project
The push for an all-inclusive play area at Sunnyside Park traces back to Franklin's broader planning process for its Whitmire Property development. At an April 2024 meeting, Franklin Town Council members approved applying for the PARTF grant of up to $500,000, according to maconsense.com. That grant required a one-to-one funding match, which town officials said at the time could provide up to $1 million for the first phase of the broader development.
The outlet reported that the highlight of that first phase was described as an all-inclusive play area for children with varying abilities and limitations. Town Manager Amie Owens told council members at the time that the estimated total cost for that first phase was a little over $1.5 million, a figure covering more than just the playground itself.
Franklin's planning process leaned heavily on resident input. More than 500 responses came in through an online survey about the Whitmire Property, and town officials said at the time they were pleased with the turnout. In a 2023 survey, the all-inclusive play area ranked as the highest community priority behind only walking trails, underscoring just how much demand had built for the project before a single piece of equipment went into the ground.
