HARRISONBURG, Va. (ROCKTOWN NOW) – The Harrisonburg Parks and Recreation Department has unveiled the design of the highly anticipated Spraygrounds project at Ralph Sampson Park.

Those designed were displayed in a showcase Thursday night at the Lucy F. Simms Center, next door to the park. City Communications Director Mike Parks explained why the designs were shown as a community event.

“Tonight is the chance for them to actually come out and see what it’s going to look like and how we’re using their feedback to create a design,” Parks said. “So this has been a long time coming. We’ve seen a lot of excitement from our community online, we know that they’re ready for this project to move forward and we’re happy to be able to finally show them what it’s going to look like.”

The department has hosted five previous input meetings to gather input from the community as well as parents, and children, separately. In a news release, Harrisonburg Parks and Rec Deputy Director Vic Garber said the feedback from children in the community has been valuable.

“It’s been amazing getting to meet with kids from across our community to hear directly from them about what they would like
to see included at the spraygrounds and to see how excited they are for this project,” Garber said. “This design, which was created based on our community’s input, is really incredible and I’m so excited to see everyone’s reaction when we reveal it next week.”

The spraygrounds will be approximately 6,000 square feet in size, including 36 spray features spread across zones tailored for
toddlers, teens and families. Interactive elements will allow children to enjoy different experiences across the park, with water
spraying up from the ground, dropping out of elevated sprayers and even jetting out of features children can move around
themselves.

The project will also include a number of other amenities for families, such as shelters and seating areas, restrooms and
green space for picnics and other activities.

Phase 1 of the project is expected to start later this year and wrap up by next summer.