Central Park’s smallest playground, and one of the most scenic, reopened Friday after months of renovations.
The Bernard Family Playground, designed for kids ages 2 to 5, sits on the northeast corner of the park, across from the Harlem Meer.
Closed in October 2017, the playground now features new swings, a sandbox with an accessible sand table, a user-activated water feature and new play equipment. The swings were also reoriented to face the lake and have extra space to meet current safety standards, Keith Stapleton, the project’s construction manager, said.
This is the first update to the playground since 1991, Lane Addonizio, the Central Park Conservancy’s vice president for planning, said, but the layout and scenic surroundings remain the same.
“The landscape and greenery surrounds the experience,” she said.
The renovation was part of the Central Park Conservancy’s “Plan for Play” initiative to update the park’s 21 playgrounds, making them more modern and accessible, while preserving their unique qualities.
