Twenty years ago, a group of young moms rallied the community to build a safe playground downtown. The Tlingit Park playground still stands today, and reminds its builders of a time when the community came together to do something good.

“It was a great community thing that brought everyone together,” said Susan Johnston, the city clerk at the time. “People that didn’t speak otherwise came and worked on the park side by side. I thought it was wonderful, and the inspiration was wonderful. It’s lasted a lot longer than we thought it would. They gave it a 14, 15-year life. But here it is, 20 years.”

Sarah “Tigger” Posey, Haines Woman’s Club member and mom, spearheaded the project.

“A lot of us were frustrated at that time, because the only playground equipment was on the school grounds, and we couldn’t go there during the day,” Posey said. “It was for older kids, and it wasn’t very safe.”

The Woman’s Club spent two years fundraising and applying for grants. The borough purchased the land for the project and covered insurance costs.

“(We did) everything under the sun,” Woman’s Club member Courtney Culbeck said. “Auctions, bake sales, a lot of different things. And much of it was donations of time to build it.”

When it came time to build, constructing the playground took only five days.

“It was hyper-organized down to teams, times, exactly what you were going to be doing, meals provided, child care, it was very well organized,” Culbeck said. “And that is the only reason it could happen in five days.”

Every day, upwards of 250 volunteers came to help build the playground. Behind the scenes, volunteers cooked giant dishes of lasagna and potato salad to feed the builders. Some helpers walked around the park with wagons filled with water bottles and cookies.

“It was probably the first and last time we all felt unified in Haines,” James Alborough said.

The playground’s design was inspired by the children of Haines.

“The younger kids all drew out their dream playground, and the architects went in and talked to them about building the playground and incorporated their drawings,” Posey said. “They wanted a bear slide, a raven and eagle swing set. … So, really, it reflects Haines, and that came through the kids, not the adults.”

In 2017, the Chilkat Valley Preschool was built next to the playground. The preschoolers use the playground every day, even in winter, lead teacher and executive director Jessie Wuesthoff said.

“This playground has room for every aspect of child development,” Wuesthoff said. “There’s the physical development in the climbing wall and the balance beam; it’s so conducive for fantasy play, dramatic play. There’s even a stage and a boat. It’s all so personal to this community. The kids go on the fishing boat with their dads, and there’s a fishing boat in this playground. Some of them might climb mountains, and we have a climber that looks like a mountain. There’s a nice space for the little ones too.”

Maren Billings, 5, said her favorite part of the playground is the tire swing.

“I really like that it can spin really fast. I also really like the feeling of being in the air. I also like the monkey bars. They’re really fun,” Billings said.

Gloria Armstrong-Kosinski, 6, had a harder time deciding what her favorite part of the playground was.

“This whole thing. Everything,” Armstrong-Kosinski said.

Ansel Spring, 3, was more enthusiastic about the cupcakes. Last Saturday, the preschool celebrated the anniversary of the park with cupcakes, bubbles and face painting.

“I like that there’s cupcakes today. (I had) a red one,” Spring said.

Former resident Annabelle Beckish grew up playing tag, hide and seek, and “elevator” on the playground.

“I like this playground because I grew up here and I made a lot of memories here,” Beckish said. “It’s also just big and fun.”

Brinley Ganey said the playground is a popular spot for kids of all ages.

“Probably because there’s always a bunch of people to play with, and it’s always really fun,” Ganey said.

Ellette Barlog, 3, described why he likes the playground.”

“Because I can play all day,” Barlog said. “My mom lets me go with her, and we go almost every day.”

Wuesthoff said she hopes the borough can organize regular maintenance to keep the playground standing.

“It would be nice if we got some sort of cleanup party, maintenance, just someone to come around to look at it and see what needs to be done and do it,” she said. “Even things like, ‘It’s not being plowed,’ or someone shoveling it in the winter. There could be more kids that play on it in the winter if there’s a path shoveled. The world becomes very small if we can’t get here in the winter.”

The playground is property of the Haines Borough, which puts them in charge of maintenance and trash removal, borough manager Annette Kreitzer said.

“Part of the idea was if (the kids) had a part in building it maybe they won’t vandalize it,” Johnston said. “Maybe they will grow up to take care of it and keep it going and bring their kids, which I’m sure they have. I really think they feel that this is part of something they did, and that’s really valuable.”