News

Playground Sculpture Finds Home In Willow Park

SDPB Radio | By Victoria Wicks

Published September 16, 2014 at 5:00 AM CDT

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Kyla Hudelson, left, and Aaliyah Arguello volunteer time to create a playground at Willow Park.

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The "Will Be" sculpture is interactive and features art by local children.

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Stephany Valkenburg with Neighbor Works.

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Corey Wieczorek, a teacher at Girls Inc., windblown but cheerful after a long day's work.

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A sign on the "Will Be" sculpture refers to Rapid City and Los Angeles.

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Children's artwork is featured on the "Will Be" sculpture. Kids also painted the bars (see left).

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Underneath the sculpture are two little "cars," where kids can find some shade. Aaliyah Arguello says, "It’s like a racecar that you can pretend to drive in, just like a little chill-out.”";s:

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At the beginning of the day, volunteers prepare a space for the commercial playground equipment.

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By the end of the day, the "neon green and dark green" playground equipment has been installed.

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Volunteers gathered on Saturday to install playground equipment and landscaping in Willow Park in North Rapid. One playground installment is an interactive sculpture, titled “Will Be,” built in 2013 by former Rapid City resident and Los Angeles artist Bridget Beck. Beck enlisted help from Rapid City kids to create the sculpture, and after she displayed it at UCLA for a year, she brought it back home.

It is now situated in Willow Park along with brand-new commercially manufactured playground equipment. Park planners tell SDPB’s Victoria Wicks that the neighborhood benefits from the kids’ ownership in this project.

Willow Park is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Lemmon Avenue and Monroe Street.