Cary Playground for Kids With Special Needs Taking Shape

The Kids Together Park in Cary is finally taking shape, six years after Kristin Holcombe and a friend got the idea from a newspaper article.

"I saw it and called Helen and said we need to, since both of our sisters have special needs, we need to help."

Holcombe was only eight years old at the time. She wanted a place where her sister Lindsay could play.

"She had trouble using standard equipment on traditional playgrounds. Here I think she'll have more of an opportunity to do some of the things she couldn't on traditional playgrounds."

The park will be accessible to all children, not just those with special needs.

Volunteers are putting up one of the major play structures this weekend. Most of the other work will be done by a contractor over the next few months.

Organizers who have spent years working toward this day say it is a welcome sight.

"I think I may spontaneously combust," says Marla Dorrel. "I am so excited, it's as if this entire playground is rising from the earth."

The Kids Together Park will open in May, and volunteers will have another chance to get involved then. Kids and adults can help landscape the park when organizers hold a "community planting day."