Penny Playground in Recreation Park

Help support Penny Playground and purchase your fence penny.  Limited quantity available.

Donate Online
Penny Order Form [PDF]

The Chehalis Foundation is partnering with the Chehalis City Parks Department to manage a large-scale renovation of Penny Playground in Recreation Park. The existing Penny Playground was built in 1993 and the wooden structures along with the pea gravel surface have gone beyond the original 20-year lifespan. The Chehalis Foundation is fundraising to provide a safer and much-improved playground.

Design Details

The new playground has been designed to be a destination play area with an emphasis on being inclusive, ADA accessible, and with an all-weather play surface.

Playgrounds provide a central meeting location for children to have these experiences. The closest accessible playground is nearly 70 miles away and is much smaller in scope. That’s why we want to create a free to all play environment using inclusive play¬ground equipment that welcomes kids and families of all abilities to learn, play and grow together.

The entire design incorporates:

  • Tall towers
  • Multiple climbing elements
  • Ziplines
  • Swings with molded bucket seats
  • All-weather play surface
  • A variety of slides
  • Wheelchair accessible toys
  • Unique elevated hillside
  • Walking path around the playground
  • Seating
  • LED lighting
  • Fencing for safety
  • Good visibility of children at play
  • Shade areas

You Can Help Build Penny Playground By Purchasing Fence Pennies!

Add your name or personal message to a Fence Penny or a “family” of multiple coins that will dance and shine on the new Penny Playground fencing!

Fence Pennies are made of 2.5″ diameter, copper-colored metal, and suspended from chain link fence surrounding the new Penny Playground. They are personalized with a message of your choice, up to 36 characters.
Donate Online
Penny Order Form [PDF]

Read What Playground Supporters Are Saying

Meri Hamre

Title Guaranty of Lewis County
Vice President, Office Manager

“Title Guaranty Company of Lewis County is proud to be a partner on the Penny Playground project. For 25 years, Penny Playground has been an amazing gathering place for families in or community – for everything from play, celebrations, and sporting events. We, the employees of Title Guaranty, look forward to the opportunity for all of us to join together in creating a new park to be enjoyed by many generations to come.

Walt and Mary Fechtner

We have spent most of our entire lives in Chehalis. While growing up, we took advantage of whatever the community had to offer, such as the public library, the Recreation Park ball fields, and the local swimming hole at Alexander Park.  As parents, we made sure that our three children took part in many of the same activities, including the original outdoor pool at Recreation Park.

We feel it is important to make sure that families of future Chehalis generations have the opportunity to experience all these same activities with updated buildings and equipment.  That is why we have been supporters of Chehalis projects such as the Vernetta Smith Library, the Shaw Aquatic Center, and the current renovation of Penny Playground and Recreation Park.

There are many families like ours in our community.  That’s what makes Chehalis a great place to live.

The Shaw Family

Our father, Gail Shaw, led an effort to perform a community needs assessment for Chehalis in the 1950s.  For the next 50 years, he took great pride in working on the issues identified in that document, all designed to make Chehalis a better place to live.  One of the original needs identified was to build an outdoor community pool and improve the facilities at Recreation Park.  By supporting the project to renovate Recreation Park, we are pleased to be furthering his dream of providing the families of Chehalis with a first-class recreational area.  We hope future generations will enjoy this beautiful facility as much as we did while growing up here.

Don Jester

When I was asked by the Chehalis Foundation to get involved by supporting the new Penny Playground, I thought to myself “…but of course!” We are all kids at heart and I love the idea of supporting fun for all. There is really no better place than right here in Penny Playground to be the home of the most fun and accessible playground in the entire region!

Dr. Jessica Homyack & Dr. Tom Gorman

Campaign Committee Co-Chairs

The Penny Playground revitalization has provided us an opportunity to give back to our community and show our children what can happen when people get involved and work together towards building an inclusive world!

Mike and Sue Austin

Inclusion is very important to us. We want to see more equipment for children with disabilities. Providing a larger footprint for the playground and fewer obstacles will allow parents to more easily watch their children. Having the goal of providing a free and safe place for children has led us to join in the new Penny Playground Project.

Phil Small

Project Ambassador

Connie was so instrumental in fundraising for the current Penny Playground. We are so proud of Penny Playground and how it has served our community for the past 25 years. Raising the money and building it with the collaboration of the entire community, school district, children and service clubs was a highlight of our life. I am happy to be a part of the effort to rebuild it and create a future destination for children to play for the next 25 years. I know Connie would have been thrilled to participate, so please join me and my family in supporting this important project.Connie was so instrumental in fundraising for the current Penny Playground. We are so proud of Penny Playground and how it has served our community for the past 25 years. Raising the money and building it with the collaboration of the entire community, school district, children and service clubs was a highlight of our life. I am happy to be a part of the effort to rebuild it and create a future destination for children to play for the next 25 years. I know Connie would have been thrilled to participate, so please join me and my family in supporting this important project.