TOPSFIELD — At the end of October, the Topsfield Playground Committee will install a new playground at Proctor Elementary School — six months ahead of schedule.
The old playground, which was about 20 years old, was demolished on Sept. 26 by John Cowhig and his property maintenance team, Hands for Hire, as well as other volunteering local businesses.
The school has not used the playground since spring 2008 because of safety concerns. The wooden structure had cracks in the support beams and popped-up nail heads on the platforms. Boy Scouts from Troop 81, Nick Bettencourt and Sam Warner, painted pavement games outside the school to keep students entertained during recess.
The committee originally planned to install a modern-style playground, but after TPC President Dawn Seymour loaded up a van with her and other committee members' children to test various playgrounds, they found the children preferred the more traditional elements, such as slides and monkey bars.
There will still be a few modern pieces in the playground, such as the "saddle spinner," a chair children can rotate themselves while sitting on it.
"Every single kid, no matter how old, loved this," Seymour said.
The new playground was designed by the committee and the vendor O'Brien and Sons and is being manufactured by Landscape Structures. It will be installed by community volunteers supervised by paid professionals.
The playground alone costs about $50,000, which does not include various expenses such as mulch, disposal and paying the supervisors. Most of the money has been raised through donations and fundraisers, including a walk-a-thon put on by both Topsfield elementary schools. The students, from kindergartners to sixth-graders, raised nearly $16,000.
The playground will be installed on Oct. 24, and there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Oct. 28. After this playground is installed, the committee hopes to build a community playground in the adjacent "Tot Lot," as students can use the Proctor playground only during school hours.
For more information or to see the playground designs, visit www.topsfieldplaygroundcomm- ittee.com.
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