Marshall Park  
Vancouver, WA 2023 

 

  The inspiration for the parks I’ve been working on for the last twelve years grew out of Cody and April Goldberg’s frustration that their daughter Harper, who used a walker, couldn’t enjoy the children’s playground near their home in Portland. Determined to change the play landscape, they started with a neighborhood bake-sale, but their efforts soon caught the attention of some serious donors. Several million dollars and twenty parks later, Marshall Park in Vancouver, WA is the latest park designed to be inclusive and accessible to children of all abilities. This time we decided to include whimsical bronze animals in wheelchairs and walkers to affirm to children with special needs that they BELONG in the park. Of course, there’s no guarantee these ideas will work. I spent much of this last summer second guessing myself. It’s never easy navigating the maze of big city bureaucracies, and foundry work is hot and heavy, especially for a card-carrying geezer like myself. There were several times when I asked myself if it was worth the trouble. Then this: