Ribbon Cutting on New Lyons Park Playground

Lyons Park Playground Ribbon Cutting. Photo taken Oct. 30, 2024 by Graham Kilmer.Graham Kilmer.

Another aging playground in the Milwaukee County Parks system has been replaced.

Parks and county officials officially cut the ribbon on a brand-new playground at Lyons Park on Wednesday. The previous playground was installed in 1997, making it one of the oldest in the system.

The beloved park was filled with dozens of families and children Wednesday evening enjoying the new playground.

“It was a sight to see so many people, so many families already enjoying this as I walked up,” County Executive David Crowley said.

Like other playgrounds Parks has recently installed, the new one at Lyons Park is designed to be more accessible for children and families, employing accessible play features and surfaces made of poured-in-place rubber and engineered fiber, which are safer and cleaner than the sand and asphalt of the old playground. Parks also installed new pathways, benches and bike racks.

“We’re very proud of being able to make our parks and our playgrounds more accessible, making sure that we have the opportunity for all to enjoy the benefits of outdoor play,” said Parks Executive Director Guy Smith.

Crowley noted that Lyons is the 18th playground installed since he became county executive in 2020. The county executive said parks and playgrounds like Lyons are critical to the “health and well-being” of the surrounding community. Maintaining them requires resources that, for the county, are in short supply. The county executive nodded to the massive backlog of infrastructure projects in the parks system, which is estimated at nearly $500 million.

Since taking office, the county has had the opportunity to make recently unprecedented investments in the parks system thanks to the federal American Rescue Plan Act and the new 0.4% sales tax implemented this year. The county budgeted $624,577 for the new playground in 2023.

Sup. Sky Capriolo, whose district includes the park, thanked the Friends of Lyons Park for the advocacy for the park and also thanked all the families that turned out for the ribbon cutting.

“This is an incredible turnout for this ribbon cutting,” Capriolo said, “and it just speaks to the fact that Lyons Park is a really important and critical part of this community.”

The 2023 county capital budget allocated $625,000 to replace the playground.

Lyons Park is located on a 12.9-acre site at 3301 S. 55th St., just north of W. Holt Avenue.

Earlier in October. Milwaukee County broke ground on a replacement for the Mitchell Airport Park playground.

Lyons Park Ribbon Cutting

Lyons Park Playground Renderings

Existing members must be signed in to see the interactive map. Sign in.