Join us for the Grand Opening October 5!

Vision and Community Alignment: The Grace Park Revitalization and Expansion project is a community-funded playground and play space improvement project located at Grace Episcopal Church. Within this project, Bath at Play aims to revitalize and expand the current play structure and play zone by reintroducing this vital amenity to the neighborhood, improving community access to the playground, and developing new play options within the current play space at Grace Episcopal Church.

The City of Bath currently has only one community playground. The addition of play spaces that are available year-round and are not attached to or managed by a school or daycare are critical for the children, families and caregivers that live in and/or visit the City of Bath. Play spaces help to combat childhood obesity by promoting physical activity, promote early childhood literacy, and encourage bonding within the community that spans both age and socioeconomic status.

Project Scope: Phase 1: After nearly a year of planning and fundraising, Bath at Play began the replacement process of a ~15-year-old CedarWorks wooden residential playset that included 3 swings, a tire swing, one main structure and a plastic slide. This legacy structure was effectively at its end-of-life and had no replacement parts available per the vendor. In an effort to reduce project waste, the beams and posts of the original structure were up-cycled as edging for the new playground wood chips. Options are being explored on how to best up-cycle the metal tubes from the original play set as well.

In late July through August 2025, volunteers began disassembling the old structure, installed a cedar fence, and started site preparation to ready the play area for installation of new, larger CedarWorks residential play structure that includes 3 main structures inter-connected with bridges, 3 slides, 4 swings, a tire-swing, a fireman’s pole, and climbing walls. A children’s picnic bench and sandbox are also integrated into the base of two of the main structures. Installation of the new play structure was completed on August 21, 2025. Bench seating and a picnic table were added to the site in September 2025.

The new playground is holding its grand opening on October 5, 2025.

Phase 2: In addition to this new play structure, one outdoor musical instrument will be added to the project. A new ~200-foot singletrack story trail is planned that will feature a rotating selection of books from exclusively Maine authors. This trail will provide a direct connection from Washington Street to the rear side of the play zone while also promoting literacy and family time in a natural setting.

Fundraising and Project Timeline: Bath at Play is taking a two-phase approach to fundraising and play element installation. Phase 1 included fundraising and installation for the new play structure, fencing, bench seating, picnic tables, and initial site preparation for the play zone. Phase 2 will include funding and installation of the outdoor musical instrument, the story trail story frames, and site work for the hiking trail.

The initial expected total project budget was $60,000. After additional planning, materials sourcing, and site considerations, the total project fundraising budget has been reduced to $45,000. A $20,000 matching grant was secured for this project doubling the impact of initial raised funds. Grace Episcopal Church was awarded grants from The Davenport Trust and the Episcopal Diocese of Maine totaling $9,000. Funding sources have come primarily from community contributions.

Phase 1 fundraising was completed in July 2025 and installation was completed in September 2025. Our goal for Phase 2 is to complete by late Spring 2026.

Sponsors:

We would like to thank our local business sponsors for helping to make this project a reality!