14 June . 2018
A one-of-a-kind playground for The Grove Frisco’s youngest residents
A “bird’s nest” where kids can hide out and dream under the trees is one of many unique features in The Grove Frisco’s one-of-a-kind playground, part of more than 20 acres of parks in the community’s first phase.
Located in Adventure Park, the playground was designed and hand-built for The Grove Frisco by Asheville Playgrounds, a fun-loving company owned by the husband-and-wife team of Jerry Hajek and Evelyn Anderson.
The bird’s nest is one of the inspiring places that children can explore in this natural playground, which includes a series of interconnected walkways, decks, slides and tunnels, along with swings, climbing structures and nets.
Evelyn said the rustic, natural theme of the playground was inspired by The Grove Frisco’s wooded environment.
“We felt an immediate connection between The Grove Frisco and our home in Asheville, located in western North Carolina,” Evelyn said. “Frisco doesn’t have mountains like Asheville, but it is a dynamic, growing community with a strong sense of place. The trees that Newland is preserving and adding to in The Grove Frisco make it unique from virtually every other place we saw in Frisco. It is truly a natural oasis in the middle of a thriving metropolitan area.”
Jerry, an expert craftsman, draws upon Asheville’s rich tradition of crafting and woodworking, using native North Carolina materials such as locust logs and mountain laurel branches to create structures where kids can connect with nature and let their imaginations soar.
“Locust is a tree that doesn’t rot, and you can see 100-year-old locust wood fences in North Carolina,” Evelyn said. “The locust logs make each playground unique. We start with a design, and the locust tells us what we need to do, so we do a lot of improvising in the field to relate to the unique circumstances of each location.”
The team peels and prepares each log by hand, making a special effort to preserve the texture, knots and other natural features.
“I imagine kids touching the bark and thinking about how this was once a tree,” said Evelyn. “That would be very hard to do with sterile, manufactured wood.”
Asheville Playgrounds’ priorities are a natural fit for The Grove Frisco’s founding vision, which includes crafting a modern village with intentional connections to nature – a place where residents can live an engaged and unhindered lifestyle.
Evelyn, a certified playground safety inspector, can’t wait to see young residents of The Grove Frisco enjoying her company’s creation.
“We live in such a busy and regimented world, and I think it’s vital for children to have a natural environment at their doorstep,” she said. “It’s important for children to be able to come out to the playground and relax, to go where their imaginations take them, and to feel comfortable and at home in nature.”
Adventure Park is located along the same trail that leads to Orchard House, The Grove Frisco’s flagship amenity, offering an activity room, fitness center, a geothermally heated swim complex and much more.
Learn more about our amenities at The Grove Frisco.