After five years of dreaming, planning and hardwork the Everybody Plays inclusive park and playground, located at 109 South 15th Street in Clear Lake, next to the aquatic center, cut the ribbon on Oct. 27, signaling the invitation for everyone to come and play.
“Approximately five years ago, a vision was set to welcome children of all ages and all abilities to a safe place to play. A place where barriers and obstacles are removed and no one is left behind,” said project leader Christina Maulsby, as she addressed city and county officials, builders and the community that made it happen. “Where imagination and creativity take place, leaders are made and friendships are developed, providing a multi-generational playground designed for everyone in a destination location.”
Even though the day was cold and onlookers were bundled up, Clear Lake’s mayor, Nelson Crabb, couldn’t contain his excitement. “Welcome to this long awaited and much anticipated occasion. I know I speak for everyone in the city of Clear Lake when I say that we couldn’t be happier to be here sharing this moment with all of you,” he said. As he talked about the project he pointed out the transformation from a Cerro Gordo County Secondary Roads maintenance facility to the phenomenal park it is today.
“To that end I want to thank the Clear Lake City Council for its financial support in purchasing this property from the county and the capital investment it committed to this project,” Crabb said.
To truly envision the scope of this project, because this isn’t just another playground, we have to go back five years to its inception, to the year 2018.
Christina Maulsby, wife to Grant and mother to two sons, Quentin and Urijah, had just resigned from the Children’s Autism Center, located at One Vision in Clear Lake, a center she helped to found in 2013. Now, with time on her hands she said she asked herself, “What’s my next project going to be?”
She said she and her husband, whose boys are both autistic, non-verbal, noticed there was really no safe place for kids with different abilities to play in Clear Lake. “So that kind of spurred my thoughts… we need to have a playground for all abilities to play, including little ones all the way up to grandparents and adults, because if they have walkers or wheelchairs they can’t join their grandkids,” Maulsby said.
She said that Quentin, now age 14, and Urijah, age 12, have a huge playset in their backyard and everything they could wish for – except for friends. “They didn’t have peers to play with and I realized that is what they were missing. That’s what this is really about, breaking down those barriers and building relationships,” Maulsby said.
She knew there were other cities with all-inclusive playgrounds, but the closest one at that time was in Ankeny and it just wasn’t feasible for families to travel that far. After she researched what it would take to build one in Clear Lake she said she pitched the idea to Mayor Nelson Crabb and City Administrator Scott Flory. Both men liked the idea, but the big question was, “Where do we put it?”
At first the area near the Clear Lake Outlet Recreation Complex’s soccer fields, south of town, was considered. Maulsby said there was plenty of space, the complex needed a playground and the location was in a new upcoming development. It wasn’t ideal, but it would do, even if plenty of people weren’t in favor of that spot.
“Then came the hard part of raising the money and getting things going,” said Maulsby, who admitted that even though people were excited about the project they had a hard time getting on board because all they had was her vision of what the park could be. The city had already agreed to help if they could purchase the playground equipment.
“The equipment was extremely expensive, just like anything related to special needs. It is more than just your regular playground equipment, [the cost] is probably double, because it all has to be adaptive to meet the needs of those with disabilities,” Maulsy said.
Then Dr. Todd Hoppner, a dentist at Children’s Dental in Mason City who sees a lot of children with special needs, offered to help. “He was our first person who got behind the project and said, ‘I’ll start your kick-off,’ He offered to match what people donated. That’s how we first started and then we started having different fundraisers,” Maulsby said.
That was when Grant Maulsby decided they needed an actual committee because the project was getting too big for the two of them. In addition to fundraising they started writing for and receiving grants and then, in 2021, a $100,000 anonymous donation came in which really sped up the process.
The playground committee met once a month to come up with ideas for fundraisers and who to reach out to. “We definitely picked the right team. They deserve it just as much as me and Christina,” said Grant Maulsby who wanted the committee of Laura Meyer, Kelly Steenhard, Rod Pump, Jeff Kuhrt (deceased), Denni Sue Erickson, Libbey Hohn, and Jessi Good recognized. “They gave their time and energy to get this built too.”
As far as naming the new inclusive playground, that was a no-brainer. “The name has always been ‘Everybody Plays’ because I kept saying, ‘Well, everybody plays, the playground where everybody plays,’” Maulsby said with a smile.
After that everything started falling into place. Cerro Gordo County had begun selling off some of their older properties, including the one in Clear Lake, which the city was able to purchase for $250,000 in 2021.
Soon, Kristy King from Bergland + Cram architects worked tirelessly with the Everybody Plays committee to draw up the design and then Dean Snyder Construction workers turned the design into a reality. “They just expanded on our vision for the park, including a great big parking lot, which was one of our requirements for handicapped accessible drop off locations,” said Grant Maulsby. “Then the city kept on adding, putting in splash pads and great big sidewalks, and they are adding trees and a shaded area for people to sit and just enjoy the park.”
Other must-have specifications for the $1.8 million budgeted project were handicap accessible bathrooms with at least one adult- size changing table; accessible access from the parking lot to the playground; rubberized ground cover to prevent injuries; fencing to protect those at risk of running off; and playground equipment that would be safe and accessible for children of all ability levels.
The playground equipment, which was purchased and stored a year ago to take advantage of the price before it increased, was installed by community members the weekend of Aug. 17-19.
“When you see it, there is this big play structure. But then there are these stand-alone pieces as well…that offer different types of sensory movements,” Maulsby said. A zip-line was also recently added at an additional cost.
Several all inclusive parks have now been built in Iowa, but none of them are close to the North Iowa area. Maulsby truly believes that the Everybody Plays playground in Clear Lake will be a destination location for many families to come to.
In addition to Bergland + Cram and Dean Snyder Construction, both Crabb and Flory gave thanks to Veenstra and Kimm, from Petersburg, Iowa, the local steering committee from Trees Forever and Deb Teaser, city staff members from Public Works, the Water Department, Parks and Rec, and the City Hall administrative office, the Everybody Plays committee and the City Council, for their time and commitment to the project.
“It took time. You only get one chance to do it right. And I think we can all agree it doesn’t get any better than this,” said Maulsby. “But here we are today at our ribbon cutting ceremony. Congratulations to all of us…I will never stop saying how honored and humbled I am by our community. This project defines what it means to be in community. We should all be proud.”
