TIVERTON — Stu Gilfillen was at the playground at Town Farm several years ago when a boy’s foot went through a rotted hunk of wood on a piece of decades-old playground equipment.

That equipment was taken down soon afterward, along with all the other pieces that were deemed a liability.

Fast forward to May 2021, when new farm-themed playground equipment is scheduled to arrive at Town Farm, where workers from the Kompan Playground Equipment company will assemble it. They'll put poured-in-place rubber around the equipment, with a completion date of July 4. The centerpiece will be 30 feet high.

More:Tiverton’s Town Farm Recreation Area slated for an upgrade

The construction of a new playground on the north side of the recreation area is the first phase of a three-phase project that will see an adult fitness area on the south side and a transformation of the tennis courts into six pickleball courts and two tennis courts.

The bulk of the money for the rehabilitation of Town Farm came from the Department of Environmental Management. The Town Farm Recreate committee, chaired by Gilfillen, submitted an 82-page grant request in late 2019 for $375,000 to provide recreational opportunities for all age groups and abilities.

DEM approved the full amount, saying in an April 2020 award letter the proposed project was considered “exceptional." But there is a required match and now a need to raise a bit more because the surface of the current tennis courts can’t just be re-sealed. It must be removed and replaced.

Instead of an initial fundraising goal of $60,000, Gilfillen said they now need to raise $110,000. 

More:Tiverton Town Farm upgrades progressing with naming of new committee

The committee already has started taking orders for inscribed bricks that will make up a walkway from the north parking lot at Town Farm to the new playground. Some 6,500 bricks will make up the 1,345 square feet of pavers required for the walkway. 

If all are sold — small ones sell for $50 and larger ones sell for $100 — Gilfillen said they will raise $190,000 and use extra funds to further improve the recreation area. 

Extra funds could be used to build a structure between the north Little League field and the lower soccer field that would house compostable toilets and have a wrap-around observation deck where games being played on the fields can be watched and recorded.

“It’s going to be a showcase playground,” said Gilfillen, who credits a very dedicated team of volunteers, and the expertise of landscape architect Josh Coroa, for bringing the project to fruition.

“There’s a really dedicated group of volunteers in town that want to see this happen,” said Gilfillen, director of training for U.S. Sailing who moved to town eight years ago and likes that the town has such “a community feel.”

His family travels to different playgrounds around the state, and he expects the new playground at Town Farm will attract people from out of town who will contribute to the local economy “and see the value of Tiverton and why we want to live here.”

The adult fitness area is expected to be completed by the fall. There is no completion date for the pickleball/tennis courts. That will depend on the amount of funds raised through the sale of bricks and donations.

The project also includes the installation of security cameras at three different locations at Town Farm that will be tied into the police department.

More information on the project is available at Recreatetownfarm.org, with an easy link to order an inscribed brick. The committee is also considering setting up a table at community events, like the Tuesday afternoon Farmer’s Market at Sandywoods, to take orders for the inscribed bricks.