Mokena's Front Porch Podcast
Welcome to Mokena’s Front Porch – THE podcast for Mokena history and community!
Nestled in the heart of Chicagoland, Mokena began as a small farming community that flourished after the Rock Island train line arrived in 1852. Today, with a population of over 20,000, its rich past continues to shape its future.
Your hosts:
🔹 Matt – A lifelong Mokenian, local historian, and author of two books on Mokena history. His blog, Matt’s Old Mokena, serves as the foundation for many of our episodes, bringing forgotten stories of the village back to life.
🔹 Israel – A passionate storyteller who grew up hearing firsthand WWII accounts from his grandfathers. Since moving to Mokena in 2016, he has embraced its history, working through technical challenges as a first-time podcaster to bring this show to life. He’s a BIG fan of Mokena!
Join us as we explore the people, places, and moments that make Mokena special. Visit MokenasFrontPorch.com for more stories, updates, and ways to connect. You can also find us on social media!
Pull up a chair, get comfortable, and step back in time with us on Mokena’s Front Porch.
Mokena's Front Porch Podcast
The Imagination Station - Mokena’s Wooden Playscape
The Imagination Station was more than a playground, it was a community effort that brought our entire Village together. For 27 years this wooden playscape was a staple for every Mokena kid. After years of weather as well as a lack of sufficient maintenance, the playscape was taken down this summer.
In the video, we have included a bunch of pictures, provided by Dr. Mark Cohen and the 159 School District. Israel was at the time capsule opening, to see what was included by the children from the class of 1997 and we hear from volunteers who still speak with pride of the role they played in that build.
Every community organization, church, and government bodies were part of this effort. $100,000 was raised as well as thousands of volunteer hours, donated tools, equipment and labor, daycare, food prep, and SO MUCH MORE!
We are honored to present this living memorial to this Imagination Station and we hope that people remember all the fun was had as well as the effort that it took to get it built. Mokena was extremely fortunate to have this playscape. Thanks to everyone who allowed us to share their story about this treasure. Enjoy!
Be sure to check out our website @ www.MokenasFrontPorch.com
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Find Matt's Blog here: Matt's Old Mokena
Photo & Artwork Credit: Jennifer Medema & Leslie V. Moore Jr.
Do you have a question, comment or maybe an idea for an episode, you can email us at:
MokenasFrontPorch@gmail.com
Music, shane won't be here on the first day of school to see it, but being able to kind of leave this, have this project done and have it in a better place. You know, when I move on, it is gratifying to know that this will be something that the kids will enjoy in the future and you know I'm glad to have been a part of it.
Speaker 2:I would hope people would remember how the community came together over those five days. I mean it was a much longer process, but over the five days everybody came together and built something for our kids.
Speaker 3:I would drive past there years later and I'd go wait, wait, I've got to show you something. And I would drive past there years later and I'd go wait, wait, I've got to show you something. And I would drive over and I'm like, see that, see that playground. We built that Community built that Like it wasn't. We hired a company Like we all hammers and nails and saws, like we built that. And I was so proud to drive anybody who was in from out of town. I would drive them over to see the play skate because I was so proud it was a really cool thing.
Speaker 4:So this episode is all about the wooden play skate that was at MES up until this summer Mokena Elementary School and as part of this episode, we got to talk to Dr Cohen, who walked around the park with me and talked about the process of getting it to where it is now. And talked about the process of getting it to where it is now. Yeah, Also got to talk to Robin Madden, who was the originator of the idea for the Playscape, and talk about how that happened, as well as the other people that were involved with that process. Dr Cohn invited us to the opening of the time capsule.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, Matt wasn't able to make it. I was not able to make it.
Speaker 4:But I was and that was a really cool process and there I got to talk again to Robin, as well as Cindy Lindblom, who was one of the other two, of the three ladies from the PTA at the time that were major pushers, you know. They got the project going. Yeah, all well-known names of people.
Speaker 5:If you're, you know, if you're a Mokinian of you know any kind of standing, or maybe if you had kids that went to the Mokina schools, you probably will recognize these names.
Speaker 4:The school had just recently posted a picture of the paved lot well, the paved play area for the uh, the kids, but we haven't seen it since the playground and stuff has been gone. So, yeah, me neither matt, and I thought it'd be a good idea to come up here as a good way to start this episode as well as kind of bring it to an end with seeing, you know, somewhat, the final product of all the years of planning and the hard decisions. You know, I'm sure you know, this is an emotional thing.
Speaker 5:for a lot of people it was, definitely. For me it was.
Speaker 4:Hopefully it's not too dark for us.
Speaker 5:Wow, I still expect it to be there. Looks so empty.
Speaker 4:Oh, wow, this is yeah. So half of this, yeah, but half of this lot was part of the playground before.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:Oh man, All right, Matt, we're trying to make the most of our limited light here, but, as you said, we're in the parking lot here and it really is about half of this lot now was part of the wooden playscape before it definitely was, so it definitely has a different feeling. And then you see the hardscape over there and they have what looks to be fenced around there and that's. I think they're going to have basketball courts.
Speaker 5:Oh, really Four square things like that on the hard space for the fifth and sixth graders. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:And then they put a new playground around the back, a little more secure and tucked away for the kids there. So, this though here they wanted more teacher parking, so that's what kind of this area makes up for, and they're not taking up the space over there but enough of the technical stuff you know.
Speaker 4:Obviously you want to know what's going on. Also, they did the willow crest drive, which hard to see but it runs behind over here. They redid that whole road, fixed the drainage and put a sidewalk in so it's a little safer for people to walk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there, so all good stuff.
Speaker 4:But matt, uh, you were around, do you remember during the, when this was built? I do very well yeah so maybe share a little bit of your memories. Yeah, well, it was a huge deal.
Speaker 5:Um, it was probably one of the most exciting things that ever happened at school that I can remember of, although when the Playscape opened it was right after I had graduated, if you want to call it that fifth grade. So I was leaving MES and about to go to what was then the junior high. So I guess I technically wasn't an MES student anymore, but all throughout my fifth grade year it was something that was very hyped up. The construction of it was very hyped up, was very talked up. It was one of the things I remember really well about it was the fact that there was lots of community spirit and fundraising going on about it. Lots of community spirit and fundraising going on about it. There was some sort of contest, I can remember, between the different classes, at least in my year, about who could donate or bring in the most money, and I can't remember how much my class got, but we got a decent amount of money.
Speaker 5:Another thing that was really cool was in that same time frame there I think this was another money raising action, if I remember right but there was a thing where you could buy a tile that was um would eventually be built into a long wall.
Speaker 5:That was probably about this high or so. That stood right in front of the playscape and you could put your uh, your handprint on a tile and I draw a little picture and paint on it and then do like a little quote or something on it. Um, and a lot of kids did this, uh, I forget how much it, um, how much one tile cost, if I ever even knew to begin with, but I remember going uh in the summer that year the summer the playscape opened going into the uh on like a saturday or something, going to the cafeteria at mes to make my tile, and I thought that was really cool and I was so heartbroken when they uh demoed that wall because it was vandalized so bad. I know by 2009 it was gone, so it was a little before then so dr cohen had only three tiles left so he did bring those out.
Speaker 4:Oh, we'll see. Uh, for the time capsule opening we were able to see the three that were remaining. Oh cool, I didn't know any remain.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's unfortunate. Yeah, that's it was horrible, but, um, that was a big part of it. I remember that it was cool, like a few years later just to come whenever I happen to be here and look at the wall and find my tile and find my friend's tiles, because tons of people did it. That was a really cool part. And I remember how excited I was when the first big pallets of lumber started to get here for the playscape. They weren't right up here at first, they were further behind Willowcrest. I mean, it wasn't Willowcrest anymore, but we all still called it Willowcrest over here, and that was really cool. Oh, and I also all the memories are coming back to me now.
Speaker 5:I remember hearing that right when the whole thing was first being planned, hearing that right when the whole thing was first being planned. I don't know if this was ever a serious plan or not or if this was just a rumor, but the the scuttlebutt around the school had it that the playscape was going to be like a pirate ship theme. Okay, um, and we were really excited about that. Of course, that never happened, but we still loved it just the way it was. I don't think anybody was disappointed. Um, it was pretty cool.
Speaker 4:So do you remember when they did the opening like the opening of the playground?
Speaker 5:You know, I don't really remember the opening because I think I was out of town when that happened. I think that happened in the summer, at the time of our family vacation every year, because I remember, I distinctly remember, we were gone for the building of it and which, like everybody, was here helping with that um. So I think I missed the opening too, because I don't remember. I feel like I probably would have been at that, yeah, I'd. So I don't remember that, but it was. It was big news and it was a like a star attraction in town when it was brand new. I still remember playing here with my friends and that new lumber smell permeating the air. That was there for a really long time.
Speaker 4:How about growing up then, the years after, Like what did this place mean to you through the years?
Speaker 5:It was just a cool place that kind of stuck uh stuck out in my head about a certain period of my life Uh, definitely a childhood Uh and I always liked even like if I was at the library you can kind of peek over here and see the skyline of the playscape sticking out and I always liked seeing it. Just cause it brought me back to that time I mean, it was so 97, because that's uh when it happened and it was kind of like frozen in time for me. Uh, for that, and I remember coming to that, that um, last hurrah or whatever that event was that they had, and, um, that sense of what it was like back then and the memories of when it opened, all that stuff was very, still very tangible. Yeah, so it's. I'm sorry that it's gone.
Speaker 4:It was neat to see still after all these years, how much emotion there was still for it.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah.
Speaker 4:You know Robin and Cindy, you know the people that built it, along with all the people that have played on it and brought their kids here and grandkids now here, and you know it's a space that will still be a play area but it, you know, will never be the same as it as it was. No, definitely not. And just the fact of what an awesome community event that was.
Speaker 5:Right, yeah, it was, it was. I can't think of anything since then that has matched it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and, as we'll hear in the episode, you know just every civic organization, you know every church and you know a group that you can think of was involved in it and, yeah, excited to be a part of it.
Speaker 1:and yeah, here to put the work in uh.
Speaker 4:So you know it's uh kind of wild to stand here now after seeing it right and through the process, but really happy that the school let us be a part of that and that dr cohen was so open to uh sharing things with us from pictures and newspaper articles, yeah, and all that has just been awesome. We're excited to share this episode with the community and hope it kind of lives as a lasting memorial of an amazing community effort by mokina, yeah, back in the late 90s back in the late 90s.
Speaker 4:But yeah, it's like one of the things I thought was neat. Before we wrap, you'll see, in the time capsule opening we found the yearbook from that year. And the teachers were quick to find the picture of young Matt.
Speaker 5:Gale, yeah, I was in that yearbook.
Speaker 4:Pretty cool. Good, anything else. Any other thoughts you have on the playground?
Speaker 5:Just knowing that the memories will always live on, and I was glad to have been here in Mokena in the same time that the Playscape existed.
Speaker 4:I agree and I wasn't here for many of the years it was here, but we had a lot of good times bringing my son here, his friends, nephews, so it will always have a special place in our heart as well, so I hope you enjoy this episode and you'll share it with somebody else that enjoyed this awesome place.
Speaker 1:I never had the chance to meet Lori Hermanson, who was one of the original three parents who spearheaded this project for the PTA back in 1997. Robin Madden, I knew, I actually had her daughter in class when I was a high school teacher. And then I had a chance to meet Sydney Lindblom and I know my predecessor, dr White, had had Leathers come out and do an assessment of the playground but then, you know, covid hit and everything kind of sat for a little bit. So I had Leathers come back out and do an assessment on the playground and what needed to be done and you know, being 27 years old, the wood has obviously seen some better days and they recommended replacing a lot of it. Should we decide to fix up the playscape?
Speaker 1:But the biggest concern were all of the wood pylons that go into the ground. You know they're wood, they've been sitting in mulch and all the moisture for, you know, nearly 30 years and a complete refresh of the playscape. The estimate would have been $350,000. And that would have been, you know, using some volunteer labor and probably would have gotten us. They estimated five to eight years based on the old wood piling. So it just didn't make a lot of financial sense to go with a playground, with maintaining it and putting a lot of money into it, just because the bones itself have a finite?
Speaker 4:lifespan, and they gave a lifespan when they built the project right.
Speaker 1:They did. 25 years is pretty much what they estimate and we had them come out and do the assessment at about 26 years, and so we figured that it was about time. They came out and dug around the base of all the pilings and looked at the condition below the mulch, and we had some that have heaved over the years. You can see where some of the areas aren't level anymore, and so it was fundamentally that we weren't going to get the return on investment if we went ahead and fixed it.
Speaker 1:The other thing to consider too is that, in this evolution of this, when this was built, this was Mokena Elementary School in Willowcrest and this was Mokena Junior High, and so grades 6, 7, and 8 over here didn't require a play area. Well, now it houses fourth and fifth graders and they don't have an area to play, especially one that is, you know, they use the grass when the weather's nice, but when the weather is inclement they're in the parking lot, you know, and it's less than ideal from perspective of safety, and you know cars driving through there and whatnot. So when we consider and this building also has four playgrounds, you know, we have the wooden playscape, we have the central playground, we have the preschool playground and then we have the seascape on the far south side by the kindergarten and the mulch alone for all these playgrounds, maintaining four of them. One of my first summers here we spent $50,000 to mulch two playgrounds Wow.
Speaker 4:And this is a really. I mean there's a lot of square footage to cover in mulch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is a little over 10,000 square feet and so when we decided to look at options there are some other issues, interesting parts of this location. It is built on the hill. We have, you know, water, that kind of flows from, you know, northwest to southeast. We've had some drainage issues here by the building. There was some after there was some site work done here by door over here that to put in a drain that would come out here to the corner where the playscape was. There was one time I came out here I'm wondering, well, where's the drain at? There's got to be one and we followed a concrete curb to a drain that was just buried in mulch and dirt and all that and we dug it up, you know, to get it moving again. But there's some water challenges here to this site.
Speaker 1:So when we had the architect come out and look at it to get a lay of the land and the engineers, if we do something here, what can we do with site improvement? If we do something here, what can we do with site improvement? We looked at replacing this with a similar structure, with a leather structure or some other playground. We looked at maybe doing a rubber safety surface instead of mulch, so that way we'd have a one-time cost instead of having to maintain. You can see how weeds grow and all that stuff. They have to be maintained. And eventually we had the discussion about this building. I thought, well, maybe if we recapture one of these ball fields we could put an area in over here for the Mokena intermediate students to play. But then, after noodling around and talking with different people, we thought well, you know, we have this playground for our elementary students. It's right by a street, it's right by a parking lot. It's not an ideal world or an ideal setup, especially for little kiddos. We want them to will open, disappear.
Speaker 1:You know there's a lot of area to cover kids potentially leaving the park area where the central playground is surrounded on three sides by building, it's a lot easier to maintain and to monitor for our uh staff. So proposed several different options to the board back in 2021 and they approved to the expansion of the central playground. This footprint is for this playground is about 14,000 or 10,000 square feet. The new playground over there is 14,000 square feet and what we tried to do with the new playground there was some existing equipment there that had some primary colors of yellow, green and blue. We added two big pieces of equipment and the one closest to the playscape is all wood tones and wood colors and it's got the wooden tops to the different platforms.
Speaker 1:The one in the middle has got a little bit of a mix. It's got the wooden tops to the platforms but it's got the red, green and blue color in it. So it's kind of an homage to the playscape and the design of the new central playground to carry on some of the heritage of what this project was back in 1997. And then eventually, from about the middle of these slides all the way to Mokena Intermediate School will be a paved play surface for these students because watching them come out of recess they play a lot of competitive games, a lot of, you know, kicking a soccer ball around, throwing a football around. We'll have a basketball hoop, gaga ball we've talked about tetherball, so but there'll also be areas for them to sit and gather. The older students like to sit down sometimes and just talk, you know, and just hang out.
Speaker 4:So there'll be a shelter with benches and tables and that'll go from MIS, you said, all the way up to To about where these slides are Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's gonna be 170 feet by 140 feet. We're going to stripe in a one-third size football field, a one-third soccer field, a one-third size football field, a soccer field with hash marks. I know they have some temporary soccer goals over there. That'll fit perfectly on the field. It'll be off the parking lot. We're going to improve Willowcrest too. The asphalt's seen better days. We're going to actually put a sidewalk in and curbs all the way along, so that way people walking on the road with cars trying to weave, weave around them, and then a lot of drainage improvements. So most of this asphalt's coming out. There'll be some drainage improvements, uh, done just to the north here of this wing, and, uh, because all that paved play surface, the water has to run somewhere, yeah, so what I we're kind of in the memorial, uh, memorial area here with a lot of the organizations and groups that were involved back when this was built.
Speaker 4:What is the intention with these?
Speaker 1:We're going to save them If anybody would like to take their blocks back. We've already had some inquiries about that, but it's our intent, before we return them to any of their owners, to memorialize them, just to catalog all the different donors that were part of this project. We do have a lot of artifacts from the playscape construction, a lot of photos. We have the Governor's Hometown Award that was given to the PTA and the volunteers that built it back in 1997 by Governor Edgar. So we'll be kind of building an area in there to memorialize all of the inside, the elementary school, kind of memorialize this playground and the efforts that were put in. I mean just the photos from that area. What a project, what an absolute project. Five straight days, 12, 14-hour shifts of people coming in and really just they had lights rigged up on all of these different posts so they could work at night, you know, and all this was just lumber. None of this came pre-cut, so everybody was out here cutting and sanding and staining and it was a. It was.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean the picture I and thank you for sharing some of those. That was great. The the tent set up with feeding food for everybody. They had childcare. I talked to Chief Howard Stevens. He talked about how the fire department put in every one of those telephone poles. You know that make it up around. So I mean I can't think of a more community event that you know you could point to that's lasted this long either.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it really was something else, but it just kind of goes to show the amount of care that people have for their school and for their community when you undertake a project like this.
Speaker 4:Now this will be out and gone by the time this comes out. But can you show us where the time capsule is?
Speaker 1:for Sure, sure. The time capsule is right here at the base of this slide. We'll be taking that out next week. We probably won't open it up right away. I want to try and get a hold of Robin Madden and Cindy Lindblom. They've expressed interest in coming out and being a part of it, but they buried it underneath this slide. We'll be taking our time to make sure we. I'm really curious to see what's in there. I'm excited about that.
Speaker 4:How has the message passed down over the years of where the time capsule is hidden?
Speaker 1:Well, when I reached out to Robin Madden and engaged them in the work. I'll even go back two years ago when we started looking at the playground assessment. We invited Robin and Cindy to come out and actually be here with the representative from Leathers and a couple of our board members at the time to kind of ask about the, the project. I didn't want to do anything out here without at least consulting with those people who put in all that time, you know. But it was at that time. They told me about the, about the time capsule, and robin was able to give me a lot of those old uh photos.
Speaker 4:That's great and then the area beyond the teacher's parking is going to be expanded. Is that right?
Speaker 1:yeah, we're going to have to do some site work anyway, with some of the drainage that's going to be going on. Um, digging this up here we over here at the corner of the building, we have water, that kind of pools there. So in doing all that and knowing that all this is going to come out, instead of replacing with just grass, the majority of our staff in this building actually works right here in this north wing. We have first, second, third grade and our self-program. So, given the fact there's so many staff here, this lot fills up first in the morning and then people park in the front. Well, if you've been here at arrival and dismissal, you know how busy it is with families that park and wait for the doors to open at 830. So we're going to add about 30 parking spots over here to get some of those staff vehicles out of the front lot, clear up room for parents, hopefully make things a little easier in the mornings as well.
Speaker 4:So the hardscape is going to end about here. Where will the parking?
Speaker 1:begin. It's going to come up maybe almost halfway into this space and then there'll be some degree of separation. I have yet to see the. You know we've got some drawings, but I know there's going to be a sidewalk that kind of separates the, the sidewalk that goes around the parking lot and some curbs, and then there'll be a barrier between that and the new play area.
Speaker 4:And then so is this where you're talking about.
Speaker 1:The sidewalk would be along the willow crest here, yeah we have all the river rock that kind of pops out and sometimes you'll see people walking on that when there's cars going back and forth. Just digging that out and then replacing all the asphalt, basically from the light pole all the way down to the, to the curb or to the curve over here. Okay, replacing that and then, yeah, sidewalk here on this side of it so people can walk from one building to the other without, because we have a lot of kids that will leave at mokina intermediate school at the end of the day and come down, wait for their younger siblings here, and right now they kind of drift through the space. But since we're going to be putting up this play area and there'll be some fencing around it to keep the students sort of in one area, they'll need somewhere safe to travel, to get through the parking lot.
Speaker 4:So when this was presented to the community, obviously there were a lot of motions. People put time and you know the kids have talked for the last 20 years. You know from kids to adults, you know have been on this playground. So how did you deal with the community response? Were people hoping it'd be kept, or what did you?
Speaker 1:deal with. You know, the community response by and large has been, you know, I think most people I talk to they understand that Wood has a finite lifespan. Yeah, you know. And then when we talked about, you know, the replacement of this playground, the fact that it's kind of moved around the building and we're going to use this area for play for the intermediate school, it makes logical sense. But there's certainly a lot of emotion and a lot of memories that were built here. I mean, I remember when I first started in the district, jake Smith, my technology director, I remember playing on it when he was a student here. But you know, when we first did the drawings we got to get our first concepts for the new play area. It was always the priority to get that project done first. I went back and shared those with some of those original PTA leaders way back when and I would say I got their blessing. But I wanted their input and students much like.
Speaker 1:Many of the features here were chosen by students back in the day. That's what Leathers does they engage students and have them select. What do you want like? What are some of the features? We did that with the new playground where we had, you know, I think, 20 different options for pieces of equipment and then kids had a chance to vote for different pieces of equipment that would go in. And so we tried to model a lot of that same process that was used to build this playground and building that one. To build this playground and building that one. But no, the folks that heard we're expanding the parking lot, like wait a minute, you're taking down the playscape for a parking lot, but really the biggest driver was having a play area from O'Keenor Intermediate School Because, again, when this project, the playscape, was done, grades 6, 7, and 8 were in that building. The district was configured differently.
Speaker 4:And talk a little bit about the bell. And this was the housing was put here, I think in the 80s.
Speaker 1:Yes, that was done in, I want to say, 1983 or 1984. The only original piece to that bell is the bell itself, or 1984. The only original piece to that bell is the bell itself. Even the bracket that holds the bell was made back in. It was a replica built in the 80s when the bell was originally kind of found and discovered, given back to the district. I believe the superintendent at the time was Ray Garitano and he had built, or they had put it in a case, a display case inside of the junior high which is now MIS, and that was 1978.
Speaker 1:But then in the early 80s the Bell Tower was constructed. It was built by our own staff. There was actually a light pole there which is gone now, the copper roof and all that. So it's there and the plaque that kind of memorializes it there on the front. We had that wonderful recording from Mamie Beckstein Miller when you know when this was rededicated and there was a wonderful ceremony to dedicate that. So now it's gonna be finding another, another home for it and we've got some options. Yeah, but we want to make sure it's displayed publicly. What you know the, the bell itself being solid brass it's. You know, it's gonna. It wears the weather really really well, yeah, um, and so finding the next home for that is going to be. You know, we want to have a have a place of promise, most likely in front of mokina elementary school. Um, but we'll be working on that in the near future.
Speaker 4:That's great no, it's great to keep that. It's such a neat, you know, piece of history that's kind of tucked away back here but tying, you know us, to the earliest days of our school district here. So it's, it's really great it's still on display. I hope that continues in whatever form in the future.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, anything else that you know about the playscape that you know you wanted to address, or Well, we're going to be taking some parts off it before, ultimately, we start moving any earth. Some of the wood we'll try and preserve, but definitely some of the more interesting play components, these two, for example, these two platform tops right here the one you can see has got that little ribbon on it that's a Hershey's Kiss, and that one I didn't realize that it was actually painted red back in the day it was.
Speaker 1:It was, uh, I'm sorry, silver with the red, uh, with the label is hershey's kiss. And then that one was made to resemble a gumdrop and it was painted. Uh, that one was painted red. So, um, that's cool, it was silver and then red, and you can see all the other pieces of candy, all that. Uh, this side we're going to be pulling as much of that off to preserve it as possible. We've had some interest in people who were either a part of the project or people who would like to have you know, you don't want to see these things to the side and then having the PTA at the Fall Fling the PTA and Foundation offering these items up for auction for folks who want to have some of those items, maybe for putting on their own child's playground at home, and we may also save some of them as artifacts as well from our history.
Speaker 4:And, like you said, this is going to be fenced off in the next couple of days, starting the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Okay, and then what's the process from there?
Speaker 1:We're going to have about a week. We're going to send out our crew to our maintenance and summer helpers to come out and just start taking artifacts off, labeling them and saving them and then, once we've gotten everything off of what we think is salvageable, that's in decent condition. You know, then we have a lot of earth to move, starting that next week, that first full week in June. This entire hill needs to be leveled out. We need to remove that asphalt road that connects the two buildings. Most of that asphalt over there has to come out. We need to start digging for the drainage trench or basically the water detention area that's going to be on the north side of that wing here by MES, and so there's just a lot of civil work that's going to get started here pretty soon. It will also involve closing off the road between Willowcrest here, so from 195th Street to Wolf. Sometimes people cut through That'll be inaccessible as they grind this down and repave the road.
Speaker 4:And that'll start just after Memorial Day as well. Yep, wow, well it's. You know, I mean it's neat to see. You know, I walked through here and I imagined what it felt like on those five days of building this. You know, amazing structure, yeah.
Speaker 1:It really is. I mean, the kids. Kids still love it All these years later, the thousands and thousands of kids that played on this, from the you know the efforts of you know those members of the community, and to think that there were over 1,700 volunteer shifts. You know, the model at the time was four-hour volunteer shifts and there were 1,700 of them, you know, and obviously there were some people that worked. Many, you know, probably put in 12 shifts that week. You know 12 to 15 shifts. Maybe we're here all day, but it really is something you see what you can do when the community comes together.
Speaker 4:Now you know also, by the time this comes out, you'll be gone at your new school and I think, among everything else, this is part of probably what hopefully our district will remember you in this major change. But how do you want the community to remember your time as superintendent here?
Speaker 1:No, you know, it's um, when I first was hired in the district and um, I, you know this was uh, this was one of those projects that, because it was so tied to the community and so emotional, I wanted some people afraid to touch it. People are very, just, very concerned Like what is the person going to do? And I, I love history, especially local history. Um, especially, you know I worked at Lincoln Way for all those years. I mean, you know, when I started working in this community, you know just, route 30 was a two-lane road and there was still the gas station over by Phillips Chevy on the corner and you know that intersection used to flood. And so you know, I've kind of seen I haven't been here my entire life, but I've seen how the community has changed over the years, especially over the years, especially over the last, you know, 25 years or so, and being a part of, you know, kind of making sure the history gets preserved and honored is, is it's passion of mine.
Speaker 1:I really, you know, I'm excited about the move. I'm excited to see the kids play here. You know, shame won't be here on the first day of school to see it, but being able to kind of leave this, have to project done and have it in a better place. You know, when I move on, it is gratifying to know that this will be something that the kids will enjoy in the future and you know I'm glad to have been a part of it.
Speaker 1:I'm excited to see the fourth and fifth graders next year when they come out. You know, we had Joey Kroll, who's a fourth grade student, who you know was superintendent for a day and go around with his fourth grade classmates and engage them with, you know, basic footprint from our architect and then he had a chance to meet with the architect and we kind of described what we wanted and that was a lot of fun. And now those fourth graders, when they come back next year as fifth graders, are going to get a chance to see the play area as they designed, as they laid it out, which is just so cool. I think the fact that the kids are able to play in a space that they helped, you know, you know push the direction of, that's just a lot of fun, absolutely.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, this is great. I'm excited to see how this turns out in the next couple of months and thank you again. Yeah, Hopefully you're not too disturbing too many people the library with all the noise, Sitting with Robin Madden and we're talking about the Playscape at MES and Robin was very involved in that and you want to tell what your role was?
Speaker 2:that they had gone through to build it came back to Mokena and went to the park district and said, hey, can we do one of these? And the park district said, no, we can't, it's a liability issue, being community built no. So I was involved with the PTA at the school at that time. So I brought it to Cindy Lindblom, who was the PTA president at the time, and said is this something the PTA would want to do? And she turned to Lori Hermanson, who was a member of the PTA, and said you know, Lori, what do you think? Can we do this? And Lori said absolutely. Cindy's like, okay, let's go.
Speaker 4:It was a really interesting one of the articles had you're quoted but you say all the different groups, community groups that were involved and it was the Park District, the Lions Club, burroughs Football, the Village Board, the Village Public Works Department, the Mokena Library, fire District, boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Board of Education from 159, chamber of Commerce, all these. I mean what a real community event.
Speaker 2:and project it was In the end. It's probably still out there now, although I'm not sure what they're going to do with it when they replace the playscape, but there's a plaque out there. I think it was like 2,570 people or something like that, volunteered their time to come out during the build.
Speaker 4:Wow yeah, and it amazed me that that whole project was done in five days. The building was yes, yeah, they started on Wednesday and then finished Sunday night with a dedication. Yeah, and that Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:What were those days like for you jobs during the actual construction, except to enjoy it. So that's what we tried to do. They did. There were so many committees. There was a daycare committee so that people who had kids that needed to have somebody watch their kids while they built there was a child care committee and they had all kinds of activities for the kids all day long in the school. There was a food committee. They served three meals every day and they got all the food donated from. A lot of the groups that you mentioned would provide food for it.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:And the construction would start early in the morning. There would be generally three shifts that they would do. They had us have plastic ready and available so that when it rained and it did rain one of the days they covered the whole playground with plastic and everybody worked underneath the plastic so that nothing stopped while that was happening.
Speaker 4:There's some neat pictures in here of that as well. Yeah, yeah, I mean, why was the push to get it done in that period of time?
Speaker 2:That's what we contracted with Leathers Associates, a company out of New York, okay, and the whole process. They came out one day and sat in the lunchroom of MES and told all the kids what we were doing and told them to come up and talk to them and tell them any ideas that they wanted for the playground. And then, while the kids were eating lunch, they were drawing up the plans.
Speaker 4:So do you know how many of the kids' actual ideas in that?
Speaker 2:A lot of them, really, oh yeah, yeah, the kids were all involved in it. So then they sketched it all, went back and put it all into their computer system. Then they generated all the materials, lists that we needed, how many volunteers we would need, et cetera, and then we worked from there. So it had to be a five-day build.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and you had to raise $100,000.
Speaker 2:We did.
Speaker 4:And in addition to materials were there more materials. That was the cost, that was part of it yes. Okay.
Speaker 2:And we also. Now that I'm thinking about it, we had a tools committee because there were a lot of tools needed, so people would donate their tools for us to use. So the tool committee had to make sure everybody's tool was marked accurately and stored in a big tool trailer so that then, as the people who were building needed tools, they could come and check out the tools to use.
Speaker 4:Wow, and was that all organized by the company or did you guys? That was all organized by us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they told us how to do it, but our committees did all the work.
Speaker 4:That's amazing.
Speaker 2:And right before they came out and we built in Mokina, they did one in Minooka also.
Speaker 4:Oh, really, yeah, have you been to that one?
Speaker 2:We did go there a few times, yeah, right after it was built.
Speaker 4:Okay, I wonder if that one's still standing out there, I don't know Interesting yeah. It said, the first poll was sunk on Wednesday and, as we said, there was a grand opening on Sunday night and one of the articles said that there were periodic downpours on Thursday and into Friday. So as the you guys were out there then pretty much the whole time, most of the time while it was going on we were While the building was yes.
Speaker 4:And so how was it a day like? I mean, people were coming knowing what they were assigned to do.
Speaker 2:Well, there was a trailer that was set up it was someone's RV that was set up as the volunteer area and so when people would come in, they would check in at the volunteer desk and be given a job. You know, maybe there would be a crew of 10 people and they would be assigned to a construction captain. We had five construction captains on site and given a job to do so. Then the construction captain would explain to them what they were doing and, you know, then move on to another group. They were doing and then move on to another group. So, yeah, it was very, very well organized.
Speaker 2:And then there were skilled volunteers versus unskilled volunteers and a funny story a good friend of mine, who's a carpenter, came and volunteered and he went over to the volunteer table and said, hey, I cut myself, can I get a bandaid? So they gave him a bandaid and there were two kinds of tags, one for skilled laborers and one for unskilled. And then they reached over and pulled off his skilled tag and put an unskilled one on there. You hurt yourself. Now you're unskilled.
Speaker 4:Now you're painting. That's right. How funny when you guys were going around to the community. You know the different groups and that you said initially the Park District didn't want to take it on, but did you have any pushback from any groups?
Speaker 2:No, everybody was. Everybody was on board, everybody was happy to help, whether it was donating for meals, whether it was donating money, whether it was, like Joe Werner, donating materials.
Speaker 4:And how? About site selection? How was that?
Speaker 2:site chosen by the school.
Speaker 4:Okay, A couple other. It said it took 72 weeks of planning, organizing and coordinating. Does that sound about right to you.
Speaker 2:Wow, that sounds about right. Yeah, I would have said a year that's a little more than a year. So, okay, I would have said a year that's a little more than a year.
Speaker 4:So okay, and it said they used 60 telephone poles were put in the ground and the playscape includes a 17-foot tower, five bridges, a dragon, mazes, swings and slides. I've taken my son over there, I've run around on it with him. It's, you know, unlike anything I mean, I think the kids love that playground. They do, they do and so now, looking back, you know, 27 years later, like how do you feel, you know about that park now, Like what are the thoughts that you have?
Speaker 2:Well, I brought my granddaughters to play there a couple times, which felt so good to me. It's one of my greatest accomplishments in my life. To be honest, I talk about it all the time, I remind people of it, all the time it breaks my heart to see it come down, but I understand why it has to. It's dangerous now. It really hasn't, unfortunately, been kept up to the standards that it was built. So it's time is done, and we knew that. It was given a lifespan of 25 to 30 years, and that's what it is.
Speaker 4:Amazing how that time can go by so fast right, Unbelievable Think about the thousands and thousands of kids that have played on that playscape.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 4:What an incredible legacy for you and for those that were involved. I mean it's interesting even now how many people you still hear talk about. They took off work, you know, for that they were there for the, for the build um now.
Speaker 2:Do you know that we won an illinois governor's hometown award? No for that. As you're coming into town, I assume it's still there. If you're going north on Wolf Road from 30, there's a sign that says Governor's Hometown Award.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 2:And that was from the playground.
Speaker 4:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Joe, Cindy, Lori, the mayor, we all went down to Springfield to accept the award. We all went down to Springfield to accept the award. It was one of Mayor Joe's greatest accomplishments too. He always still talked about it and we talked about it one time if we could rebuild it, you know when it needed to be done, and it was just an overwhelming project for us. So well, Dr Cohen contacted Leathers and had them come out and talk to him I don't know if if you've talked to him about that or not and they said that they don't do many community many, if any community built playgrounds anymore. Just that whole community spirit has disappeared.
Speaker 4:And they had at that time, I mean one of the articles they had done. I think it was like a couple hundred of these. Yes, there was one article that, from Sunday June 8th, 97. And you're quoted there, said we knew it would be huge, but I don't think we realized just how big it was going to be.
Speaker 2:That is true, that is very true, and we did not know. That is true, that is very true, and we did not know the community spirit that would come together to build it. Everybody talked about it, everybody was happy. It was wonderful for a few years after that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and you're also quoted there and saying every time we stand out here and look at it, we cry.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And I would imagine that emotion is probably uh, still real now.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, when I, when I bought my grand granddaughters out there to play, I could have stood there and cried watching them play on something that we had built. Yeah, and you know the the kids that were playing on that playscape when it was built now have brought their own kids to play on it, which is a nice way to go full circle on it, for sure yeah.
Speaker 2:We had construction captains. Joe Werner was one of them, cindy Lindblom's husband was one of them, lori Hermanson's husband was one of them. I don't remember all of them, but they all had to commit to being there all day, every day, during the build, and that made it a lot of fun for them.
Speaker 4:Like that Sunday night there was a dedication. Is that the Sunday night it is?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they kept all the kids off of it from playing and then we did the dedication and then opened it up to the kids and they just went crazy playing on it.
Speaker 4:You know, you just see the tents, you know, and all the trucks and equipment out there and it must have just felt like a beehive it did, it did, and then all of a sudden you know it was done and everybody disappeared.
Speaker 2:The interesting part is that we had a lot of skilled tradesmen working there and so there was a big um pile of wood scraps. You know, someone would cut a piece of wood and the scraps would go in there. Our guys were so trained that they took the wood from the pile to use instead of taking clean whole pieces of wood. So when it was all said and done of taking clean whole pieces of wood, so when it was all said and done, we had a ton of wood left over. Because of that, we had the kids come up with different names for it, and one of the names well, they came up with names. Then they voted on the names. There was actually a children's committee and so one of the names they came up with was Mokina's Pleasure Palace, and we just kind of casually shuffled that name aside. Pam Schoenweiss I don't know if that name is familiar to you.
Speaker 2:She was in charge of the food committee and so they had all the food and it wasn't like everyday pizza. There was different food at every meal.
Speaker 4:Now it looks like there was something at the park.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was a fundraiser and we had the dunk tank and we also had cow pie bingo, where a certain area was, you know, broken down into segments and each one was marked.
Speaker 4:Oh, I saw that there's a cow walking around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then the cow walked around and wherever there was a cow pie, if you had that block you would win.
Speaker 4:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yep, actually, if I had to make a guess, I think Cindy Lindblom took a lot of these pictures and handed them off to me, and then I handed them off to Dr Cohen because I was looking through my house. I was like, well, we've moved. I don't remember what I did with these pictures, but now I know.
Speaker 4:And I'm glad they're in good hands. You had your kids at the time were at MES.
Speaker 2:They were. They were seven and eight years old, I think, and every once in a while my husband would sneak into the not sneak into the school, but he would go into the school and pull my daughter's or my son's classroom out and take them over to a window that would overlook the construction and explain to them everything that was going on and why it was going on. So that was fun. It made it a little more special for my kids because they put up with a lot For a year either. My husband and I wore out every night at committee meetings. My husband and I were out every night at committee meetings gathering materials, getting volunteers. Yeah, there was a picnic table out there that some volunteers made after construction and installed so that families had a place to go out and sit and have lunch. There was a stage. It was always the hope that the school could use it to put on plays or whatever for the classes.
Speaker 4:What would you want people to remember? The process, the playscape itself, everything that you went through to get it done. What would you want people to remember?
Speaker 2:I would hope people would remember how the community came together over those five days. I mean it was a much longer process, but over the five days everybody came together and built something for our kids.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and why do you think it was such a community? Why did people grab onto it and really embrace that project so much?
Speaker 2:Because at that point people were looking for things to get involved in and were interested in things for the kids of the community. Not that they're not still interested, but I don't think we would. If we tried, I don't think we would get the community support again. It's a different world now, 30 years later.
Speaker 4:I don't think we would get the community support again. It's a different world. Now, 30 years later, it's almost like that was nearing the end of an era of real community. All these organizations and groups. A lot of them are still around today, but you just kind of have a different sense. You might live here but you're not involved in the community as much as maybe in the past.
Speaker 2:Right, right. And I've heard of some of the community groups, the school groups, you know, the music boosters, band boosters, athletic boosters, things like that. They just don't get the volunteers that we got when we were involved in those.
Speaker 4:Kind of in the best times of a village or a town or an area is when you have that active community because you know you are dealing with your neighbors and you're, you know you get to know the people around you and you know the teachers and all the people like that where now you know, kind of our circles expand so much that you're not as reliant on you might not be a member of a community organization or see the importance of that like you have in the past.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's really sad. I mean Kim Cosgrove, who was the head of the volunteers committee. We had signs printed up who was the head of the volunteers committee? We had signs printed up and she had those signs all over town about Mokina's Imagination Station and how to contact her to volunteer, and we had tons and tons of volunteers. It was amazing. No, I was very excited that Dr Cohen invited me to the grand opening of the new playground that's up there, so I got to go to that, which was fun. It actually made my heart strong, warm to see the kids playing on it. They had a great time and I told them when the playscape is going to come down, I want to be out there watch it come down and also out there is buried a time capsule. I told Dr Cohen about it.
Speaker 4:I don't know if he's pulled it out or not yet. No, I think he said once construction happens, they'll pull it out. Okay, so were you there when it was buried?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and the kids committee chose things to go in it and I don't remember what's in it. It'll be interesting.
Speaker 4:Did you put anything in there? Was anything used specifically? No, I don't think so Okay.
Speaker 2:But it was made out of PVC pipe so I hope that it has maintained against all of the water you know, so that there'll be stuff in there when we open it.
Speaker 4:Well, that's smart because St John's did their opening I think two years ago or so, and they found their box and they had some issues getting it open because it had rusted. They used a metal box. So that was very smart of them to use PVC.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's only well now Dr Cohen knows I think there's only three people who know where it's at, because it was put in when nobody was paying attention because they didn't want any of the kids to know and be able to dig it up. Yeah, sure.
Speaker 4:Well, Robin, thank you very much for coming and talking to me today.
Speaker 2:Thanks for inviting me. Thanks again, Robin.
Speaker 4:And thank you so much for putting this beautiful playscape on Mokina for the last 27 years.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 4:I hope its memory lives on for a long time after.
Speaker 2:Thank you, me too.
Speaker 1:Wow, we're heading to the cafeteria. This thing is quite the seller I was expecting like a box, A box.
Speaker 5:Yeah, they did this right. He's carrying power tools. How else do you open up a I don't know. So I don't think this is going to come off.
Speaker 3:Hi, I'm Rachel Chorley. I'm the principal here. Oh, hi, robin Madden.
Speaker 1:Oh, robin, going to come off, I'm.
Speaker 2:Rachel Torley, I'm the principal here. Oh hi, robin Madden. Oh Robin, nice to meet you.
Speaker 6:Hi. Oh nice to meet you.
Speaker 1:You can kind of hear the. I'm not sure if you remember what's in there or not.
Speaker 2:I have no idea. Yeah, absolutely no idea.
Speaker 1:I'm just going try and I'm gonna try and score the outside of it a little bit oh safety glass.
Speaker 3:Are you kidding me? That was loud. All right, we need a drum roll. Oh, oh.
Speaker 6:Oh, they were smart.
Speaker 2:They sealed it. Is that it?
Speaker 6:Is that?
Speaker 2:a t-shirt.
Speaker 1:Well, they sealed it. Is that it? Is that a t-shirt? Well, they sealed it. Well, let me see if I have a parky or something to poke at.
Speaker 3:Let's see if I can get here we go.
Speaker 1:It's good to start it. I was hoping there was something good in there. I didn't want it to be like that, geraldo, where they went out to the poems vault, you know just wait.
Speaker 6:It may not be all that exciting. It looks like the plans might be there.
Speaker 5:It's exciting, you know. Oh, the plans would be cool. Oh, the t-shirt.
Speaker 2:Oh, it fits you so well Right, look at that. They will play. Wow, they the stain, wow and they will play.
Speaker 1:We can lay this stuff out.
Speaker 6:Isn't that great.
Speaker 1:Cute.
Speaker 6:So I did get the plans.
Speaker 1:Oh, you did, I do or I did.
Speaker 6:I think I still do, but I did detract my sweatshirt like this All right.
Speaker 1:So here's a list of the time capsule items. Following is a list of the time capsule items. Following is a list of what each grade voted on to put in the time capsule. We hope these items and information will help you know what we're all about in 1997. Kindergarten a 1996 penny and a 1997 postage stamp. Kindergarten a 1996 nickel and our 1996-97 school yearbook. Second grade 1996 dime in the 1996-97 MES yearbook. Third grade pre-construction site picture in a playscape t-shirt. Fourth grade 1996 quarter and a picture from our float in the 1996 Mokina Christmas parade. Fifth grade copies of projects done in Miss Teague's class. A map of Mokena, pictures of buildings in Mokena and current price list. Junior high a list of current trends and junior high accomplishments throughout the year. So this is the Mokena street map from the 90s. I'm sure there's a probably a number of streets that aren't here here. Outside of the color, the stairwell hasn't changed very much. You guys can let you guys take a look in here. The coins, the parent-student handbook from 19th century. As I was wrapping it up today.
Speaker 1:Go back in time. Materials lists from the PlayScape. So this is the oh nice.
Speaker 6:That's the materials list, yep.
Speaker 1:Machine butts, washers, the whole thing. I'll let you guys know. The Mokina PTA Place got escape funds, so these were all of the fundraisers and donations. This is cool. This is really cool. A list of current prices Gas $1.29. Gallon of milk $1.99. Can of pop $0.65. Movie ticket $6.00. School hot lunch was $1.45.
Speaker 6:What is it now? Three something, three something 360 now.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, the entertainment 360.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they carried it.
Speaker 2:Well, Kenan Junior High had 650 students, but that was his two grades.
Speaker 1:Well, Kenan Elementary had 1,322 students in it. That's insane. In this building Wow, this's insane. In this building. Wow, this is neat. You guys should take a look at some of this.
Speaker 6:This is some of the drawings I'm going to bring this stuff and put it in the display case.
Speaker 2:Oh, that would be really cool. Yeah, that would be cool. We'll have some pictures and a new one going up.
Speaker 1:We'll have the Construction Week agenda Friday. The trailer arrives. Phone line put in Saturday May 31st. Rv trailer delivered, tool trailer shelving put up. Fencing up Sunday was set up of tents and tool drop-off. Well, and this is the article. It must have been printed right before it was this whole, yeah, thursday May 29th, right before the project was done, and then you sealed it up and put it away.
Speaker 6:Yeah. Oh yeah it was a very yeah, it was right away. That's so cool, and it was when no one was paying attention so none of the kids would know where it was at, that was from the PlayScape.
Speaker 1:Yes, those were kids.
Speaker 2:No throat on it.
Speaker 6:I think it was at that last play day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you recognize it yeah, you don't say I won't miss this. Yes, so all of the like, the pavers you mean, no, the tiles from that half wall. Yeah, so when I started the only I have three of them left. This is very sweet, so I know the half wall had been knocked down some way somehow, and I'm not sure how many of them were recoverable.
Speaker 6:Maybe they gave some away but I have three in the closet. Did you save?
Speaker 1:them All. The patio bricks yes, and we had them cataloged. So I know I had some requests for people to come and pick them up, some families and whatnot but we want to make sure we have a complete record of all the donors.
Speaker 4:But it looks like there's one in there already, so that's fantastic too, so let me ask you while you guys are here what memories kind of come up that you forgot about since the structure went up?
Speaker 3:Was she in her teacher? Because we both had teacher books?
Speaker 2:I forgot how many things we did to raise money for.
Speaker 3:Remember working at the.
Speaker 6:World Music Theater.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, or did you not do that?
Speaker 6:I thought I went out there and did it, but I'm not positive.
Speaker 2:Did you get these little cuties? Remember any of them? Yeah?
Speaker 3:So you worked the concession stand, yeah, and we figured at the end of the day, if we had gone somewhere and worked for minimum wage, we wouldn't have made any more money.
Speaker 6:I don't know what posters, because I took off until January.
Speaker 3:So I think this is Brian.
Speaker 5:Didn't we sell T-shirts?
Speaker 2:We might have sold those T-shirts but they're not on here.
Speaker 6:This old-fashioned fun day at the park. That was kind of the kickoff. It was Because it was right at was kind of a kickoff it was Because it was right at the beginning of the school year. Okay.
Speaker 3:And it was out of Main Park.
Speaker 2:Who is that? She was Mootree. Yeah, we did.
Speaker 6:We had hot dogs out there.
Speaker 2:That's when she went back to her meeting. Actually, Southwest Airlines gave us a free ticket to anywhere, which was pretty amazing.
Speaker 6:And then Linda Bomber, who is here in town. She was CalPi Bingo. Oh, okay, I saw some pictures. Is that Rita Cow Pie Bingo?
Speaker 4:Oh, okay, I saw some pictures of that. Yeah, cow Pie Bingo.
Speaker 6:So we had that, so we had a little calf in there. Oh, I see, I think it is.
Speaker 1:It was in there. We had a dunk tank. We had all these little kind of horses and stuff.
Speaker 6:That was my favorite.
Speaker 3:Is that, rita?
Speaker 6:I think it is now you say that you and Lori went to some kind of convention or something. We went to the PTA convention, oh okay, and you know, of course they have all the vendors there and we had already talked about doing this the three of us we had talked about doing it. She got engaged in the classroom, robin was you know pretty much. She knew a little bit more about the process. I had been to the one in Valparaiso. They had done one in Valparaiso.
Speaker 5:My mom was living there at the time and had been out there and I thought, wow, that is really cool.
Speaker 6:And she had told me about it.
Speaker 2:Well, robin knew more about it and we were all like we need to raise some big funds.
Speaker 3:So then, laurie and I went to the PTA thing and entertainment folks talked to us and pretty much promised us that we could make a certain amount of money and we thought about it and worked on it and we said yeah okay.
Speaker 2:You know those entertainment books like they started out hot and everybody wanted them. Now you can't find them anymore. They died off.
Speaker 4:Any idea how much that raised? Oh, I'm sorry $32,000.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I was thinking $30,000. For some reason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the only thing that brought us in more money was just getting business and community donations.
Speaker 4:So Rob and I got to talk a little bit, but tell me a little bit about your like experience during the build what, what was going on, what your memories are of it.
Speaker 6:Um, it was a really, really busy week. It was a really emotional week Um lots lots of ups and downs, lots of surprises. I cried a lot. I did too. When he first said that that's exactly what I thought. I cried a lot Like frustration. It was our baby. It was our project.
Speaker 2:And all of a sudden, there were 2,000 other people who came in and were taking it to be their project and it just was very emotional for me. I didn't want to give it up.
Speaker 6:No, I was amazed at the generosity of everybody and the commitment of everybody as well, people that you would never have expected it from were there and working so hard, and that was one of my wonderful surprises.
Speaker 4:It is amazing because so many people talk in town. You know either posting online or you know people you talk to. You just hear about the little part they played or the thing they got to do. And you know even I talked to Fire Chief Howard Stevens and how he talked about what the role the fire department played in putting in all the poles.
Speaker 6:That was a big day.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was.
Speaker 6:That was a big day. The cement day the concrete day and the pole day was huge. But the, the guy who delivered the concrete, he said that was the most organized thing he had ever seen wow, ever.
Speaker 2:But they would line up oh my gosh, how many were there? 20 or 30 firemen, or oh, wheelbarrows for the at least 20.
Speaker 6:And they were just lined up one by one all over the they'd go, they'd grab their load and they'd come right back around and it was amazing.
Speaker 4:And then see the firemen that was special In many ways and, Cindy, you've lived here, Robin, up to recently, you did too, but talk about since that time. You know the memories you've had with children, grandchildren that played on it, anything like that.
Speaker 4:Three of my grandchildren are here in town and they've played on it and they are so excited to be here and play on that playground that you know grandma built and so yeah, that that was really fun and so now, like obviously right now it's come down and when you found out about that, talk a little bit about, about how you felt about that and what that means to you or meant to you.
Speaker 6:It's really too bad, because it was such an amazing project and brought this community together. And I just feel like that has always been a memorial basically to that time and it was at a time when the village wasn't, you know, focused on that?
Speaker 5:And that was one of our motivators as well that this village needs to know what it means to come together and to do something, and it was just such a good group and I don't remember any.
Speaker 6:You know we all got along, oh yeah, there just was never any strife.
Speaker 4:Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 6:At all. Everybody just did what they had to do and made sure it got done.
Speaker 2:The guys from Leathers told us that because we had so many professional men like professional car pros and stuff working there. We had tons of materials left over because they were smart enough to go and they would go through the wood pile and grab pieces of leftover wood and use it instead of cutting into new pieces for each time.
Speaker 7:And that made a big difference.
Speaker 6:There were.
Speaker 3:That was one of the biggest surprises is to have these people just come up out of the woodwork. Like being able to trim off the big beams and angle.
Speaker 6:There was a guy who cut down trees for a living, because I can do this and it was done.
Speaker 4:Amazing.
Speaker 6:Yeah, electricians, the night it rained.
Speaker 2:Remember when we broke the pipe and Joe Werner fixed it within minutes, yep, within minutes.
Speaker 1:And then we got to write back the podcast, because that was huge he let us do that.
Speaker 7:It was fun. There was a day that rained or night.
Speaker 6:I remember working late into the night and it was raining and lights just appeared.
Speaker 2:Well, because it was on our list of things that we needed. So they covered the whole thing in heavy gauge plastic and brought lights in and put it up so everyone could still work in the rain. Because you still had to you had to make deadlines it was a five day build.
Speaker 7:That was it then they were gone and then so whoever needed to do it did it I can do that, and I think there was something wrong with the lights at one point.
Speaker 6:Whoever needed to do it did it. I can do that. Just give me a few minutes. I think there was something wrong with the lights at one point.
Speaker 1:Joey came out and fixed it, got the thing done. Those are the kinds of things that you would never, ever dream of happening.
Speaker 6:That's just small, that's awesome Ever dream of happening? That just Small but it's a wonder heart.
Speaker 3:That's awesome yeah.
Speaker 4:Any other memories or things you'd want to add?
Speaker 6:Bob took the week off work.
Speaker 4:Did he really?
Speaker 6:Yeah, to be a construction.
Speaker 4:So you remember what his kind of role, what was he doing?
Speaker 6:Yeah, he was a construction captain, which meant the Leathers people would tell they had these captains and they said this is what you're going to be doing today. You need to. This is what your volunteers are going to be doing today. Wow, you need to just watch them and do that. Yeah, so he did that.
Speaker 2:I think there were five.
Speaker 6:Something like that.
Speaker 2:yeah, Five guys that took him.
Speaker 4:Probably here most of the time.
Speaker 2:Oh, brenda, brenda, that's right. Yeah Well, she was a construction worker. Joe Werner was one of our construction captains.
Speaker 6:Laurie Hermanson's husband yes, Then we had you had to provide security, oh sure During the night. So my neighbors had four boys high school boys. They were a couple nights. They came up and we had a trailer there and they'd sit in the trailer that was fun.
Speaker 2:I don't remember, I don't want to do this. So they had to sit in the trailer.
Speaker 7:That's probably fun, I don't remember. I don't want to do this anymore.
Speaker 6:So they had to sit in the overnight. They thought that was fun, sure, so we had to get people to watch because we had this trailer full of tools, oh. And then the guy who came just showed up to repair tools, oh, that's right, do you remember? Him. Yeah, yeah, brought all his stuff out there and he just sat there for all five days and just it was like. That's the kind of thing that. Whoa, yeah Whoa.
Speaker 1:And then everybody who donated food.
Speaker 6:You had to feed these people twice a day.
Speaker 4:That's what With the pictures. It was so impressive to see Food tents and child care and all this.
Speaker 2:And child care. Amazing, amazing. I mean, luthers had it down to a science, you know. They gave us a book and this is what you need to supply. Wow, and it was overwhelming at first.
Speaker 6:It was, but it got. So the three of us. So there were all different committees. So I think we just took charge of two or three committees each of us, which also helped, Because we all said I don't know how one person could have done this by any means know how one person could have done this by any means. So we were in charge of two or three committees, and then they, you know, we worked with them to make sure everything was getting done in a timely fashion.
Speaker 2:You know it's funny for me. As you get older, things get scarier to you. You know like for me, driving up from my house alone, I don't know, for some reason, makes me nervous. I can't picture myself now being able to take on that whole project again. Yeah.
Speaker 6:That was one.
Speaker 4:A huge learning lesson, I'm sure oh yeah, it was Good time.
Speaker 2:I mean the wood down in the ground and stuff, of course that's going to deteriorate so you can only do so much. And that's what they said 25, 30 years, that's how long it lasted, yeah so I guess, but you just don't think that time's ever going to come.
Speaker 4:No, so many people. That's all they knew their whole life was that you never know at any other different place.
Speaker 2:My next-door neighbor came over to me one day. He goes all of a sudden all these signs popped up all over town saying something about Mokina's immigration station, and he said I couldn't figure out what they were.
Speaker 7:He said apparently I stopped to look at one and realized it was imagination station not immigration.
Speaker 4:Well, this was really cool to be a part of the opening here and I thank you both for talking to me some about this. I think it'll be a great way to kind of memorialize this for a long time to come and the awesome effort that was put in here.
Speaker 4:So you know just neat to see and I love the fact of you know whether it was the design there that the kids were brought into it or what went into even this. You know each of those kids kind of had a part in that and it's neat to see them now, you know, all these years later, recognizing that too.
Speaker 6:It was definitely an amazing program that this company had put together. It's just, it's too bad. They can't put together, it's just it's too bad.
Speaker 3:They can't when they came. What a couple, two, three years ago he said you just can't do it anymore.
Speaker 6:You don't have the volunteer hours which is heartbreaking because it is such a rewarding experience. I for years I said if you ever hear, one of these going on. You need to go.
Speaker 7:Just go volunteer. You will never experience anything like that again in your life.
Speaker 4:Tell me a little bit first about what you remember about that community event, and then kind of share too what the fire department's role was in that.
Speaker 7:It was a pretty neat event. It was 100% a community event. You had a Lions Club there. You had a fire department there. Any organization that had anything to do with the village was there. There, you had a fire department there. Any organization that had anything to do with the village was there In some shape or form. They had a shift or they had a specific duty to do or whatever. And as far as the fire department's concerned, we volunteered our time to go there. There was quite a few of us and we got. We were assigned the job to.
Speaker 7:If you look at the playscape today, in basically all the corners there are telephone posts and our job was to carry the telephone posts and the holes were all dug. We had to avoid falling in the holes and put these telephone posts in the holes, stand them up. And then somebody came along with a tractor and filled the holes and they leveled it up. But our job was somebody cut them to length. We didn't have to measure anything, we didn't have to figure anything out. Someone said this pole right here is going into hole number eight over there, and so depending on how big or small the telephone pole was, that dictated how many people were on the pole, so we were basically the mules to move these telephone poles.
Speaker 7:It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 4:How many days Was that? One day?
Speaker 7:For us, you mean.
Speaker 4:For your poll, yeah.
Speaker 7:I think it was a couple days, but I can't, you know what, I can't, I can't really remember. Probably felt like a lot longer.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm sure it felt like forever yeah.
Speaker 7:But, I'm thinking, for I'm thinking maybe it was like a weekend, but I really can't rightly remember. But that was our job. We were the mules to move the telephone poles or anything else that seemed to be heavy.
Speaker 4:Anything else you remember? I know they did a grand opening at the end of it and all the kids came on. I don't know if you were around for that or any other parts of it.
Speaker 7:Yeah, yeah, we went to the grand opening and things like that and it was fabulous. You know, the biggest thing was really it was 100%. It was a community event. So the organizers of the Playscape did a wonderful job of getting community buy-in, getting community participation, and obviously now it's lived its life cycle and needs to move on to something else, but at that time the organizers really did a fabulous job of getting the community to, uh, to be involved with that thing. Yeah, it was really nice uh, judy boshansky.
Speaker 4:Uh, thank you for talking to me. You reached out to me because you were one of the volunteers back when the imagination station was built. And how did that happen? How'd you end up volunteering to work when the playscape was being built?
Speaker 3:So I have two at the time, two young daughters that were not old enough to participate in the build, but they were going to Locina Elementary School at that time, and so we were very involved in the community and had heard about the project and I thought, oh my goodness, it would be so cool to participate in that, to help build it and to always have that memory for the kids. So I remember the kids who were too young to build were in the school and they were working with other volunteers to make construction paper chains. So they spent the time while we were outside building. The kids were inside making these paper chains and I remember when they had the grand opening they put the chains kind of all over these bright colored construction paper chains that were draped all over the work that we had done to build the playscape.
Speaker 3:And it was so cool to know that that was the kids' contribution to it and it made it just as special. So we were there every day. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced, or ever experienced, since we all brought our own tools and labeled them so we could get them back in the end and all were kind of assigned different sections or different areas to build and it was magnificent. It was a fabulous memory. The one thing I think well, there are two memories that I have is the big, really wide slide is a dragon slide and I remember I got to paint the flames on the side of that dragon slide.
Speaker 6:Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:Like I painted the flames coming out of the dragon's mouth. And the other thing was at the very top there was a Hershey's Kiss, painted silver, with a red pull tab. You know, like Hershey's has a little pull tab to open it, to open the kiss, and so nobody else wanted to go up there. So I climbed up on a ladder with my paint and it was a finishing touch. I got to paint the red tab on the Hershey's kiss at the very top. Oh wow.
Speaker 4:You know, that's a really special memory.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's one of the things I've seen with the pictures is I, you know, I I didn't see it at that time so I didn't know. There were all these different attributes to it, like the silver painted kiss and the thing on top of that. But looking back now let's see the pictures. It's so cool the detail that went into that, including, like you said, these younger kids that couldn't be part of the build actually being brought in and incorporated for some of that decoration. That is really cool. Any other memories you have from during the build, like how many days? Do you remember how many days you were there?
Speaker 3:That's a good question. I was trying to remember it was, I don't know, three or four days, probably something like that. Okay, it was multiple. We were there kind of every day of the build, you know to whatever extent we could be and continue the project. So probably three or four days, I think. Yeah.
Speaker 4:And what was that final? What do you remember? The grand opening and what was that final. What do you remember the grand opening?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the thing that was most amazing to me about that was standing back and watching, like all the kids in the community using all the things that we had spent all this time building, swinging on the swings and kind of. The thing that was most touching was the construction paper chains that were all over the place, just knowing that that was the kids' contribution that weren't old enough to use tools yet. But it was just such a great time, a great memory, something I will always. Always remember. Any opportunity we had to, you know, have a nice day where we wanted to take the kids out and get them tired so they would sleep well or get together with other friends of ours that had kids of similar ages, we would go, you know, to PlayScape and let the kids run around, escape and let the kids run around, and I'm certain that they used it for recess the whole time that they were in school, that they had opportunities to use it as part of their everyday experience when they were in school there.
Speaker 4:Well, it's a really cool thing to look back on now and see all that went into it and the number of people you know so many people have had similar stories of getting involved and just how much pride they felt in that, and I can imagine all the adults standing back on that grand opening and watching these kids play, just gleaming ear to ear. It must have been an amazing experience.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would drive past there years later and I go wait, wait, I got to show you something and I would drive over. I'm and I'd go wait, wait, I've got to show you something and I would drive over and I'm like, see that, see that playground, we built it. The community built that Like it wasn't. We hired a company Like we all hammers and nails and saws, like we built that. No-transcript.
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