A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday to celebrate construction beginning on the Wonder Spelen Miracle Playground at Kiwanis Park in Pella.

Pella Community Services Director Jeanette Vaughan and Jen Diers with Wonder Spelen both say they are thankful for the area community’s support to create a space for kids of all ages and physical and mental abilities to play safely.

“It’s a project we’ve been looking forward to for some time,” Vaughan says. “I was looking at my emails and in 2018, I received an email from Kiwanis saying ‘we’d really to do this, what do we need to do to get it done?’ and from there we’ve gone through every step to try and get this project going and here we are, so it’s very exciting.”

“It’s just an incredible opportunity for families and kids with special needs just to have a space that all kids have access to and items that will really support them in their learning and development,” Diers says.

Wonder Spelen or “Miracle Play” is dedicated to building a fun, safe, state-of-the-art playground to be enjoyed by people of all ages and abilities to help people play together. The fundraising goal is $2 million for the organization, as they aim for additional improvements in 2022 on top of the work coming this summer.

At last week’s meeting, the Pella City Council agreed to expand what was included in Phase I of construction, which is on track for October completion. Resolutions were passed to update the contract with Hooyer Construction to include more equipment previously slated for the 2022 phase of the project to instead be added this summer.

Fundraising continues by Wonder Spelen to add more features to the park, click here to learn more.