Patience, young grasshoppers: Shade takes time at R.D. Keene Park

The red skeleton framework of what once held a green shade covering has been sorely missed since it seemingly disappeared this summer, leaving kids and their parents to deal with the Florida sunshine.

Joe Gasparini, of Orange County Parks and Recreation, has been working to get a new shade covering for the playground. He suspects the shade covering, which had been there for about for about 10 years, was blown off by wind. His ongoing efforts to get a new one have proved challenging.

“We’ve been trying to get someone to get it replaced, and we’re having trouble because of the size of it,” he said. “Trying to retrofit something onto an existing structure is difficult, because the company that originally installed it was from Jacksonville, and they’re no longer in business. So we have to try to find someone locally that we’ve been working with regarding other shade structures in the county, but you’ll notice that this one is larger and not average compared to others in the county.”

Since August, he has worked with about eight to 10 potential contractors trying to secure quotes, but all the contractors have so far have been hesitant because the structural design for this playground is not standard.

“They don’t really ... want to put their system on an existing structure; they’d rather set up the entire system,” Gasparini said. “We’re trying to be reasonable here. ... We’re being cost-conscious here, but we haven’t even had anybody who’s willing to give us a quote on it. So we’re maybe looking now at a different type of design using the same structure since we can’t find someone to do the overall thing. It’s difficult.”

The department’s efforts have resulted in a long wait for parents who routinely take their kids to the park. However, some parents have stopped visiting as often.

“We don’t come as frequently now, because this has gone on for a while, but we used to come like two to three times a week,” said Devon Anderson, a Windermere resident. “Now, we come maybe once every couple weeks and only in the evening. It used to be packed all the time. It was nice, and I just feel like there’s so much less now just because it’s so hot. You don’t want to worry about the kids burning themselves on the metal and things like that.”

Anderson said she wouldn’t mind paying a few extra dollars to have the shade covering installed — as long as it gets done soon. Gasparini said as soon as the parks department establishes a timeline, it will post a sign notifying residents.

“It just takes time,” Gasparini said. “If we had someone who was willing to do it, we’d get the quote and have him go do it, but we can’t even get one. ... We’re working on it as much as we can.”

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Contact Gabby Baquero at [email protected].