Uptown playground now open

The downtown Columbus riverfront just became the place to play for kids.

A new playground adjacent to the splash pad on Front Avenue below 10_th Street is now open and children 12 and under can be seen climbing, sliding, jumping and and banging away on the musical instruments in Harmony Park.

Though a grand opening won’t be held for a couple of more weeks, that is not stopping the activity, said Uptown Columbus Inc. President Richard Bishop on Tuesday.

“We want to get the grass around it a little greener and a couple of other little things before we have the official opening, but it is good to go now,” Bishop said.

Coupled with the splash pad and the shooting water fountains, it offers parents a safe and convenient place to bring the little ones.

“They work great together,” Bishop said. “But we knew the two features were going to work well together. It is just another attraction on the riverfront.”

Both the splash pad and the playground have been constructed with private funds. The playground will likely come in under the $592,000 budget, Bishop said. The cost for the splash pad was about $600,000 creating a $1.2 million facility.

And not a penny of it was done with public funds. The splash pad is on land owned by Uptown Columbus and the playground is on property leased by Whitewater Management LLC, another nonprofit organization led by Bishop.

This story was originally published May 10, 2016 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Uptown playground now open."