Fundraising Update - Wickliffe Woods

The Wickliffe Woods Project began a year ago with an ambitious charge — to design and fundraise for a new outdoor playspace with the complete replacement of Wickliffe’s beloved Castle Playground. We have been grateful for all of the community support we have received so far and we are thrilled to share a big update for our project.

Coming soon!

On the heels of the matching donation initiative from Northwest Kiwanis, we have another exciting announcement. Upper Arlington Schools will be funding a play structure that meets some of the biggest requests of our students and community (spin, slide, climb, shade), while we continue fundraising to bring our vision to reality. This will include a traditional post-and-platform play structure, a wheelchair accessible spinner, monkey bars, and poured-in-place surfacing, along with a new athletic field. As the Castle continues to age and pose additional maintenance challenges, this investment from the district will allow us to have a safe and reliable structure in place prior to next school year. Reflecting our core principles as a school community, we will be engaging our students and community in the coming weeks for additional design input as we finalize the structure features.

Spring and summer events

As previously announced, new swings and spinners will be installed this spring, thanks to our initial fundraising efforts and PTO support.

Just as our community came together to build the Castle more than three decades ago, we plan to continue that tradition with a community build process of this new structure, guided by Midstates Playground Equipment. We will be sharing more information in the coming months about opportunities to volunteer for construction, child care and food service.

Finally, this summer, the Castle will be decommissioned and removed. While this may be difficult news to process, its condition in recent years has presented many challenges for our school community to maintain. We will be celebrating the Castle and its place in our Wickliffe history with a community event prior to its decommissioning.

Fundraising and aspirational future plans

This district investment is separate from the Wickliffe Woods fundraising efforts including the current Northwest Kiwanis matching campaign. This campaign and future fundraising will go toward our broader vision of creating an iconic, inclusive playground that is unique to the personality of our Wickliffe community. While we are well on our way to leveraging the full match from Kiwanis, we will be continuing our efforts to fundraise an additional $350,000 to bring our concept as seen below to reality. DONATE HERE, where all funds up to $20,000 will be matched through February 29.

We are grateful for the district’s partnership and your support as we continue to work toward our school community’s vision of creating an iconic, world-class inclusive playground rooted in elements of nature-based play, STEM and environmental learning for Wickliffe students and our larger community.

If you have questions, please reach out to us at wickliffewoods@gmail.com or visit us at wickliffeplayground.com.

Other ways to support

Stop by The Greenhouse at Getaway Brewing on Wednesday, February 7th to support and learn more about Wickliffe Woods! Mention the playground when you order any beer or Kitty Paw hard seltzer and $1 from each drink will be donated to the fundraiser. With the Northwest Kiwanis Match all donations will be doubled! Getaway offers a charcuterie vending machine for snacks and we will have family friendly board games available.

Pedaling for the Playground

Join us on Sunday, February 11th from 12:30pm – 1:15pm for a Pre-Super Bowl one-of-a-kind fitness experience and raise some funds for Wickliffe Woods during our Northwest Kiwanis Match Campaign. CYCLEBAR is located at 1609 W. Lane Ave and offers indoor cycling rides for all fitness levels. Plus it is locally owned and operated by one of our own Wickliffe Wolf families! Register at this link with a $25 minimum donation and join in on this exciting, energetic fundraiser!

Yolks for Playground Folks

Yolks for Playground Folks – A weekly sign-up to purchase farm fresh eggs with proceeds from sales donated to our playground fund.