Upshur Park’s playground was recently completely overhauled and has only opened within the last couple of months. It has clearly been well used already, but it hasn’t yet lost its brand new feel. We watched the progress every time we drove past on 14th St. NW. We went and checked it out for a little while on a sweltering weekend afternoon.
Features:
- Climbing Walls
- Swings
- Bucket Swings
- Sand pit
- Slides
- Spinners
- Spring based riders
- Enclosed tot area
- Rubber surfacing throughout
Amenities:
- Water fountains
- Bathrooms
- Small Rec Center
Nearby:
- Upshur Pool
- CAPCS’s playground on the top of the hill (fenced, but well known that you can sneak in after school hours)
Pros:
- Great landscaping around the playground, including stone walls that can be fun to play on.
- Three distinct areas for play: an older kids’ area with abstract climbing features, a fenced toddler sand area with small equipment, and a young kids area with slides and lower climbing features.
- Lots of hills all around the playground for running down and even a section with tiny mounds under the rubber surfacing for running over!
Cons:
- A total lack of shade (though trees planted should pay off in about a decade, so at least they thought of the future).
- A few interesting pieces of equipment, but it’s the same old commercial equipment as every other playground.
- It’s definitely a great neighborhood park, but despite some creative landscaping, it’s too small and uncreative to really be a destination spot.
BalletBoy’s Review:
The park was good because most of it was fun. One of the kind of swings there is different than the usual swings. The first time it was really fun, but the second time it plunged me around and I had to get out to stand up!
Mushroom’s Review:
This playground was good because a lot of what I saw there was new to me. I also was amazed with their climbing wall. I couldn’t climb up it at all except for one step.
Farrar’s Review
A lot of thought clearly went into this playground, with its three tiers of play areas (big, medium and small kids all welcome). A central striped color scheme on the rubber surfacing unites all three areas. The stone walls are especially inspired and I love the way they begin and end, including one artful ending into the grass on one side. It’s a minor quibble, but the sand pit probably needed more containment as the sand has already spilled out all over. A bigger issue I have is just the dullness that is commercial play equipment. The hex-cubed climbing feature was clearly inspired by older, climbable art but it’s still neat (though without any shade, it was very difficult for the kids to climb without getting burned). The whole playground comes from the company Kompany, which seems to be the source for most of the recent playground installations all over the city (meaning that the sense that there’s anything unique here will fade quickly). They make some decent stuff as prefab equipment goes, but the little houses with slides on the medium kids play area are very boring. Most importantly, there’s nothing I’m less enamored of in a playground than a flat surface with a sprinkling of individual mini-play structures, which this playground had two entire sections of. The unusual swing (which apparently flipped BalletBoy upside down!) was sort of cool, but it’s still an uncooperative play feature, meant for use by one or maybe two kids.
Overall, though, I’d like to give props to the tiny mounds under the rubber surfacing, which at least showed some out of the box thinking. I also applaud the general atmosphere of this playground surrounded by hills, which is much improved from its former self. This is just outside our walking realm, but if we lived just up the street, I would be satisfied by having this playground. So it’s not worth the trip unless you live in the neighborhood, but it’s not a bad addition to the area either.
