MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — There’s something big missing at Central City Park in Milledgeville.
“I had gone home; when I left it was here and I came back and it was gone,” Georgia College senior Walker Petty said.
He lives right across the street from it. It’s something very old.
“Bulldozers and stuff came through and leveled it,” Carlos Jones said while taking a walk in the park.
It’s the playground equipment at the park – it’s getting replaced with something bigger and better after three decades.
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Milledgeville's Central City Park designs
“It was surreal,” said Jones.
He says he watched the equipment get demolished two weeks ago. It’s the same equipment he played on when he was a kid.
“When I was 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,” Jones said. “It was time for an upgrade because that equipment was broken. Just outdated.”
Broken swings, rusted chains– plastic can only last so long.
“The city had to make some repairs and actually closed off sections of the original equipment,” City Councilman Walter Reynolds said.
Reynolds says he played on this playground too.
“I know for sure that the equipment had been replaced when I was at Baldwin Middle School, right across there. Probably 1997 or 1998,” he explained.
Reynolds says it took a while for the city to look for grants to repair it, but now they're using over half a million from SPLOST and the general fund.
“We’re going to be putting a little bit more space between the play area for the larger children and then there will be a separate play area for the little ones," Reynolds said. "It’ll be a total replacement of the areas right here, and we’re going to be putting in new rubberized ground covering, so that everything is nice and safe.”
But soon, it'll be a playground no longer missing.
“I think that's great, I might even go play on it soon – I don’t know,” Petty laughed.
He says he sees families and kids play at the park often and have birthday parties. He knows it'll be put to good use.
“It’s good for the parents. Let their kids come out and play and they can do stuff. They actually should be able to trust the equipment now,” he said.
And once complete, kids will play on it just as Jones once did.
“Because kids need something to do with all the social media and stuff. Good for the kids, good for the community,” Jones said.
The company is named PlaySouth Playground Creators who is providing playground equipment.
The construction should be done in late March to early April.