Old Lyme — When the playground at Cross Lane Park was aging and in need of replacement, and the Parks and Recreation Department didn't have enough funding to replace it a few years ago, the Lyme-Old Lyme Junior Women's Club stepped up and offered to start fundraising and planning.

Club members and community members joined together on the new initiative, the Lyme-Old Lyme Love Your Playground Project, and surveyed people to ask what they would want in a playground, said Anna Reiter, who is the club's co-president and chairwoman of the Love Your Playground Committee.

People expressed interest in a playground with features like shade and swings — and a need for equipment that is accessible and inclusive, Reiter said. The committee then set out to create such a space with features that are accessible to children and family members of all abilities.

"We just thought it would be really nice to have a place to go to that you could bring all children and all family members," Reiter said.

After fundraising since Memorial Day of 2016, the group raised just over $50,000 and the town contributed $150,000 for the remainder of the project.

On Thursday, community members will celebrate the opening of the new playground.

A rubber tile surface covers most of the playground, and a large play structure in the middle is accessible via a ramp, she said. The structure features playboards and a special slide in which a child in a wheelchair can scoot off the wheelchair and onto the platform of the slide, and a caregiver can bring the wheelchair down to the bottom of the slide.

"It gives a child who might not normally have autonomy the opportunity to get themselves around and enjoy playing independently," Reiter said.

The playground's swing set also includes an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant swing, and there are additional features around the playground for children to work on balance and sensory skills.

The playground equipment, which is from Columbia Cascade Company based in the Pacific Northwest, is made of wood from the United States and Canada, and steel, Reiter said.

The playground further includes a four-person seesaw, a drum tree and climbing apparatus, among other features. A fence is slated to be installed around the playground later this spring, and the Duck River Garden Club will assist with landscaping.

Reiter said it's exciting to see the completed playground.

"It's exciting because I think it's going to be a real opportunity for the community to come together and enjoy outdoor space," she said.

k.drelich@theday.com

If you go

What: Ribbon-cutting ceremony for new playground at Cross Lane Park

When: 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 26

Teddy's Old Lyme Pizza Palace will be donating free pizza and refreshments. The Duck River Garden Club will have mini pots and soil for children to plant their own pansies.