Designer gets ideas from 'playground experts' for project to remember drowned boy

ROCKETS, AIRPLANES . . . River Heights Elementary School students give Barry Segal ideas for Ryan's Place. / Photo by Mikaylie Kartchner

Related story: Plans for Ryan's Place are unveiled later the same day

By Mikaylie Kartchner

January 23, 2007 | About five months ago, a River Heights family suffered a great loss when Ryan Adams, their beloved 2-year-old outdoorsman, drowned in Lake Powell. The tragedy sparked an outcry of support from friends, family, neighbors and the community.

Tuesday at River Heights Elementary School several classes of students ranging from kindergarten to fifth-graders took a few minutes away from their studies to remember Ryan -- not with tears or silence, but with giggling and with excitement as they shared their ideas for a playground that will be built in Ryan's memory.

Ryan's Place will be a children's dream world. Designed in a single day by playground designer Barry Segal of Leathers & Associates, a nationally recognized playground design group, it will encompass as many elementary schoolchildren's ideas as possible.

"I need to get some ideas through what I call 'playground experts,'" Segal said in one of the idea sessions. "[Playground design] is customer driven. We want to give the customers what they want."

The kids threw out ideas for more than 15 minutes with the overriding themes being things like rocket ships, airplanes, dinosaurs, dragons and castles. At the end of the brainstorm, Segal gave an overview of what he had in mind. He said there would be a rocket ship with buttons that would eject mist. He said there would be a castle with tunnels and monkey bars and airplane teeter-totter.

Although the official plans weren't scheduled to be revealed until 7 that evening at the elementary, Segal assured the kids, "I can guarantee you'll love it, and it's going to be your playground."

The playground will be built in early May at Heber Olsen Park in River Heights. It will be built in one week with a workforce of volunteers, both adults and children. Segal said they'll be both jobs for the kids and job for the parents. The builders will work around the clock to get the job done.

Segal, who has designed hundreds of parks in his 25 years with Leathers & Associates, said this project has a lot of community support, more than some of the other parks he's worked on. He said it is an opportunity to give and the people have responded.

"People begin to realize how much people care for each other in this community," he said.

Craig Adams, Ryan's father, said the support from the community has been "unreal."

"The community has been awesome," he said. "I am thrilled to see how excited the kids get, bottom line."

Alicia Adams, Ryan's mother, agreed.

"This is a great day. It's taken a lot of planning, but it's just fun to see the kids get so excited," she said.

The project is funded strictly through the community. While a statement released to the press stated the project funding had a good start, it also stated there will still be other opportunities for community members to contribute, both through fundraising and adopt-a-component of the park donations. There has been an account set up at Cache Valley Bank for the project and volunteers will be able to sign up at the design unveiling Tuesday.

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