New playground installed at O.B. Nelson Park in Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — The new playground at O.B. Nelson Park in Fairfield has been installed, and should be open to the public “soon,” according to the city’s public works director.

Fairfield City Engineer and Public Works Director Melanie Carlson said the new structure, which continues the castle theme of the Partners for Play playground that was demolished last fall, was recently finished, and that the city’s parks department has added mulch around the playground’s base.

Carlson stressed that the playground is not technically “open” because an orange fence still surrounds it, and city staff still need to pick up any debris left from the installation. However, she added that the playground is now structurally safe.

“We’re really happy with the contractor. They did a good job,” said Carlson, referring to the company American Playground, which installed it in less than two months.

The new playground is two stories tall and covers 2,300 square feet. The new equipment includes five slides, four climbers, and is designed for kids aged 2-12. It is replacing the wooden Partners for Play playground installed in 1999.

Carlson said that, if anyone is disappointed with the playground’s size, they should know the city is not done, and that it plans to add more equipment to O.B. Nelson in the coming years.

“I’m so glad we were able to get something in right away,” Carlson said. “There’s no way we could have replaced the old playground exactly as it was, even if we used metal.”

Carlson said that Parks and Rec Director Calvin Todd looked into what it would cost to replace the Partners for Play playground exactly as it was laid out, and discovered it was prohibitively expensive at $500,000. The city spent $127,000 for the playground just installed.

Visitors to O.B. Nelson will notice that the city left a large mound of mulch in the parking lot. Carlson said that mulch will be spread around other playgrounds in the city. Carlson said the city’s long-term plan is to convert all playgrounds into having mulch beds. Some playgrounds still use sand.

“The mulch we’re using is not the same as the mulch at the city’s compost pile,” Carlson said. “This mulch is specifically for playgrounds.”

O.B. Nelson is the second city park to receive a major upgrade to its playground equipment in recent years, with the last one occurring to Howard Park in 2019. Carlson noted that Lamson Woods in the southeast part of town will have new playground equipment later this year, too.