Largest playground in West Des Moines reopens with features to make play more accessible

Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register
·2 min read

Families who visit Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines now have new options on the playground intended to make play accessible to children of all abilities.

The newly renovated Raccoon River Park Playground, located at 2500 Grand Ave., is now open during regular park hours. The original playground equipment, 20 years old, had shown its age and was removed in fall 2022, according to information previously published by the city.

In February 2022, the West Des Moines Parks and Recreation Department hired Des Moines-based Genus Landscape Architects to design an inclusive playground as its replacement — the largest playground in the city's largest park, according to Parks and Recreation Director Ryan Penning.

The newly opened playground at Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines includes equipment accessible to children and families of all abilities.
The newly opened playground at Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines includes equipment accessible to children and families of all abilities.

There's a variety of new playground equipment spread over 52,000 square feet of play, seating and landscape area, intended to engage children with motion, swings, sensory features, themed play, climbing and crawling. There are different means of access, be it hills or sloped paths.

A photo released by the city, for example, shows a "We-Go-Round," a spinning piece of equipment that's designed to accommodate people who use wheelchairs.

“Hundreds of thousands of people visit Raccoon River Park annually and use the playground, so this is a significant project that will have a tremendous impact on our community for years to come,” Penning said in the city's announcement of the playground's opening.

The city will host a ribbon cutting for the new playground at 1 p.m. Saturday, to be held in conjunction with the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce Raccoon River Rally event.

The West Des Moines Public Art Advisory Council is commissioning a new permanent piece of public art for the playground — a sensory wall 14 feet wide and 8 feet tall to include tactile elements such as wood, cork, clay pebbles and marbles, according to the city's news release.

Genus' design team for the playground included Ingrid Kanics, an occupational therapist and owner of North Carolina-based Kanics Inclusive Design Services. Public feedback was gathered through a survey and the design team also consulted with city parks staff and Melissa Clarke-Wharff, co-owner of the West Des Moines-based nonprofit Can Play.

Phillip Sitter covers suburban growth and development for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. He is on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @pslifeisabeauty.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: West Des Moines opens inclusive playground at Raccoon River Park