PORTSMOUTH — It may not have all the bells and whistles of the Portsmouth Community Playground that opened in June on Turnpike Avenue, but the new play area at Glen Park is a welcome addition to the nearby ballfields, pavilion and riding ring.

“For a couple of years now we’ve been thinking about putting a playground in; it’s needed. We have lots of sports going on here, so why don’t we have a playground at Glen Park?” said Wendy Bulk, director of the town’s Recreation Department.

The recently completed playground is located just past the entrance to the park on the left side of Gilbert Barker Road (off Glen Road). 

It’s been in discussion since the 2022 Parks and Recreation Master Plan confirmed the need for more playgrounds in town. Talks with playground designer Conor Hammond of MRC Recreation on plans for one at Glen Park started a little over a year ago.

“GameTime playgrounds is the playground manufacturer that we represent,” said Hammond.

Although phase one of the playground is now complete and will have a ribbon-cutting open to the public on Sunday, Dec. 8 (see related story), more equipment may be added to the play area in the future.

“We have swings, we have seated spinners, we have brachiating (overhead climbing) spinners, we have a dome climber and we also have a free-standing slide,” Hammond said. “We’ve hit about four out of maybe six principals of play. We’re missing a couple out there, but maybe in the future we can work some of those in as we’re still working on those plans.”

The Glen Park playground distinguishes itself from many others, he said, in that it’s an “open-concept” plan.

“Whereas, sometimes you’ll see a lot of those modular structures post and platform,” Hammond said. “Wendy had this grand idea for camp time, and that kind of thing, to have the kids running round in free space. So, we really had an emphasis on an open plan rather than something you would see at another park that had a different kind of goal. 

“At the end of the day, this is one of those one-off really cool situations where there’s a lot of play value involved, but it’s sort of tucked away and hidden in a nice little spot for the campers and public to use.”

Built in stages

A little over $40,000 has been spent on the playground, with funds coming from the fiscal year 2024 budget as well as the current 2025 spending plan. The Recreation Department will also seek $20,000 to $22,000 in capital improvement funds in 2026, Bulk said.

“Our plan is to build the playground in phases so the budget isn’t hit so hard,” she said.

The new playground perfectly compliments all the other activities going on at Glen Park, Bulk said.

“It’s a big thing for Portsmouth,” she said. “It’s something that we need. The residents will appreciate it when their older children are down here playing sports like soccer, softball, volleyball.”