TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A new swing set could soon give children — and even adults — another reason to visit Himmel Park in Tucson’s midtown Sam Hughes neighborhood.
Members of the Sam Hughes Neighborhood Association are raising money to install a larger swing set at the park’s playground after an older structure was removed last year for safety reasons.
The project is aimed at filling what neighborhood leaders say has been a missing feature at the busy community park, which serves families from across central Tucson.
“It was the last standing piece of the old playground equipment that was here during the renovation,” said Leo Katz, a board member with the neighborhood association.
The original structure included a slide and larger swings that older children and adults could also use. Katz said the replacement playground installed by the city includes newer features and swings designed primarily for younger children, but lacks the larger swings many families enjoyed.
“My oldest grandson is six and he actually climbed up the swings with me, with me climbing up in back of him,” Katz said. “So you could call it multigenerational.”
Located near Tucson Boulevard and Speedway Boulevard, Himmel Park is one of Tucson’s oldest and most heavily used parks. The roughly 25-acre park includes sports fields, tennis courts, a swimming pool, playgrounds and a library branch.
The city renovated the west-side playground in 2018, adding new play structures, shade features and updated amenities while preserving the park’s iconic metal slide.
Katz said the playground remains crowded most afternoons.
“I’d say sometimes there’s 50 kids here playing in the afternoon, and it’s all age groups,” he said. “So it would be really special for them to have the big swings.”
According to John Blackwell, treasurer of the neighborhood association, Tucson Parks and Recreation agreed to contribute funding toward the project, leaving the group responsible for raising just over $4,000.
“They were providing $5,600,” Blackwell said. “Anyway, it came out that we needed $4,063 to finance the swings.”
Blackwell said the group has already raised roughly $2,700 and has paid the required fees to the city.
“We have paid the dues to Parks and Recreation and the first set has been ordered,” he said.
Blackwell confirmed that the neighborhood will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony when the swing set is installed, which should be within "five or six weeks."
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Eddie Celaya is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born in Tucson and raised in the Phoenix area, Eddie is a life-long Arizonan and graduate of the University of Arizona who loves the desert and mountains and hates the cold. Previously, Eddie worked in print media at the Arizona Daily Star. Share your story ideas with Eddie at edward.celaya@kgun9.com, or by connecting on Facebook or Instagram.
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