Friends of the Legacy Play Village on Monday said plans are underway to temporarily close Legacy Play Village and rebuild something in its place.
Specifics were not known yet.
Craig Finlayson with Friends of the Legacy Play Village confirmed that the playground inside McAlister Park was again recently vandalized.
Lubbock Police also confirmed that a call came in late Monday morning. According to police, the caller said there were boards missing from a bridge. An official police report was not made.
Legacy was built by volunteers in Lubbock in October 2002. The city donated the land and a non-profit maintains the park. The playground includes a three-story castle.
It has been vandalized many times over the years and graffiti covers several parts of the playground.
Finlayson said he hopes to have more details on the future plans for Legacy. The pavilion would remain, Finlayson said, but the playground would be replaced.
It just so happened that a group of kids from a summer camp was at the park Monday morning when a photojournalist was recording video.
Tommy Burkhead, head of the Bridge of Lubbock summer camp, said, “They really enjoy coming to this park.”
As part of their summer camp, they played in the park, but also it’s the camp’s yearly tradition to clean up trash in the park.
“We’ll even have a contest to see who can pick up the most trash,” Burkhead said. “They’re letting us have this park for free. So, the least we can do is a little clean up.”
Related Link: www.legacyplayvillage.org
Update: the following message was added to the Legacy Play Village website.
The Friends of Legacy Play Village, Inc. have empowered a steering committee “The Next Generation”, to make a new playground a reality in 2019. With new construction materials, colors and play features; including integration of ‘special needs’ opportunities.
You have an opportunity to be on the ground floor, helping to launch the Legacy Play Village into a new era of service in our West Texas Community. It is time and we invite anyone interested to be a part of this “Next Generation” to create a new playground for the next generation. We have already put together a team of great volunteers to lead this steering committee toward success.
