Pied Piper Preschool and Child Care located south of Traer on Main Street pictured on July 11. The community’s only licensed child care center will soon install a new playground inside a fenced, empty lot (right side, foreground) located north of the building. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

TRAER – Pied Piper Preschool and Child Care in Traer has been keeping a big project under wraps for some time now but with funding mostly addressed and plans well in motion, the center’s leadership is ready to ‘slide’ into the big reveal.

“We’ve been slowly building the plan. We didn’t make it public until more recently,” Sara Forrester, a member of Pied Piper’s board of directors, told the newspaper last month while standing near the double, empty lot adjacent to the center’s north side. “It will be a surprise for the kiddos.”

The surprise being a brand new playground – two playgrounds to be exact, one for the center’s school aged children and one for the preschoolers.

“They will be separate playgrounds but all inside this fence,” Forrester continued while motioning to the vast, green space which at the time featured only a sandbox built by the North Tama industrial tech classes, an old cement pad, and few recently planted saplings.

Currently, children who attend Pied Piper use a playground located behind the center. And while it’s brimming with equipment and toys – split into three spaces by age group including a space for infants and toddlers – it’s cramped, aging, and almost completely lacks green space.

Part of Pied Piper’s current playground pictured on July 11. The aging playground, which is split into three cramped spaces by age, is located behind the center. The new playground will serve preschoolers and school aged children. Additional funds are being sought for a infant/toddler playground expansion. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“Playgrounds add a lot of value [to a center],” Forrester said. “Physical activity is important for learning.”

As the only licensed child care center in Traer, there is almost always a waiting list, Forrester said. Having space to move around, run, hop, skip, jump, etc. is thus at a premium.

To that end, Pied Piper leadership slowly raised $300,000 to fund the new playground through a mix of sources including: $28,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) stipend awards; $15,000 from the R.J. McElroy Trust; $12,500 from the Traer Community Foundation; $5,000 from MEMBERS1st Community Credit Union; and $5,000 from Traer’s local option sales tax (LOST) grants.

The double lot on which the playground will be installed was purchased from the Nick Podhajsky family.

“We got a really good deal [on the lots],” Forrester said. “We are very thankful for the Podhajskys.”

The empty lot pictured on July 11 where Pied Piper Preschool and Child Care’s new playground will soon be installed. The $300,000 playground was funded through a mix of sources including grants and pandemic relief funds. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

The new playground is set to be installed in late August or early September by Boland Recreation out of Marshalltown. In addition to play equipment there will also be several sun shades to replace the shade of a massive tree that recently came down – a tree the children of Pied Piper had referred to as ‘Cecilia’s tree’ in honor of Nick Podhajsyk’s late mother, Cecilia Ann Podhajsky who passed away in 2016.

Despite the playground project seemingly nearing its completion, Forrester said there is more to do.

“We look to the future all the time. Baby playground plans are just a dream right now,” she said in reference to the fact the infant and toddler playground will remain behind the center, for now. “We also have additional costs above the $300,000. That [amount] doesn’t include the fence to divide the playgrounds. We could always use additional funds for a fence expansion or the baby playground.”

Individuals and entities who would like to donate toward Pied Piper’s playground costs may drop off checks at the center or in the mail. Pied Piper is located south of town at 1108 South Main Street.

As the playground’s construction date inches closer, Forrester said everyone at Pied Piper is anxious for the new space to finally take shape.

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“But mostly we are excited for the kids to see it.”