Musical playground, renovations to come to Fayetteville's Wilson Park

Korey McSwain, 5, plays with Dahlia Nelson, 4, both of Fayetteville, Sunday at Wilson Park in Fayetteville. Developer Fadil Bayyari donated $30,000 to Fayetteville so the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board can build a musical playground and new play area in Wilson Park. The equipment will be installed next year and be next to the main playground equipment, which is also getting a makeover.
Korey McSwain, 5, plays with Dahlia Nelson, 4, both of Fayetteville, Sunday at Wilson Park in Fayetteville. Developer Fadil Bayyari donated $30,000 to Fayetteville so the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board can build a musical playground and new play area in Wilson Park. The equipment will be installed next year and be next to the main playground equipment, which is also getting a makeover.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Children and their parents can expect big changes at Wilson Park by next summer, including a musical playground and a new play area.

Northwest Arkansas developer Fadil Bayyari donated $30,000 to create the musical playground that will feature oversized percussive instruments like chimes and drums children can hit with their hands or attached mallets. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board in its Monday meeting approved the donation.

The playground will be named after Bayyari's late son, David Lyle Bayyari, who died in 1990 at the age of 20 after carbon monoxide leaked from the engine of a plane he was on and into the cabin. David Bayyari was flying over Florida during a training mission in Daytona Beach, where he attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The family spent a lot of time at Wilson Park when David Bayyari and his three siblings were young. A few years ago, Fadil Bayyari was in Colorado, where he saw children playing on a musical playground at a park and decided Fayetteville should have something similar in his son's name.

David Bayyari played saxophone and basketball at Fayetteville High School. The idea just seemed to fit, Fadil Bayyari said.

"There's no better way to do something in his memory than doing a music pavilion or playground at Wilson Park," he said.

The musical playground will coincide with a major overhaul at Wilson Park. An entirely new playground area, additional parking and road improvements are planned to be finished by next summer, Parks and Recreation Director Connie Edmonston said.

The existing playground was installed in the late 1990s, and the park is due for an upgrade, Edmonston said.

"It's had its good time," she said. "It has been well-loved."

The Parks and Recreation Department has to get its budget discussions beneath it first, so a concrete plan on the musical playground or the renovations won't be developed until after the bidding process is complete. Although the musical playground would be next to the main playground in the center of the park, the department is taking on the projects separately.

The projected cost of the renovation is about $459,000. The department received $150,000 from the Arkansas Parks and Tourism Outdoor Recreation Grant, Edmonston said.

Bayyari said he didn't know Wilson Park was to undergo an overhaul when he approached park staff with the idea for the musical playground, but he was glad to find out one of his most beloved spots in Fayetteville was getting a facelift.

"This particular park has a special place in my heart, and the family's heart," he said. "I still spend a lot of time there, at least once a week walking that park and enjoying it."

The Bayyari family has two parks in its name, one in east Fayetteville off Arkansas 16 in the David Lyle subdivision and one in Springdale near Bayyari Elementary School, but Wilson Park is where the musical playground needs to go, Bayyari said.

"It's something new around the country," he said. "When I saw that playground in Colorado, I thought, 'Wow, this would be great to have in Fayetteville, especially at Wilson Park.'"

The instruments featured at musical playgrounds have been around for about two decades, but the popularity of those sites has surged in the last five years or so, said Donna Codd, CEO of Freenotes Harmony Park in Durango, Colo., which manufactures musical playground instruments.

The idea is for everyone at a park, regardless of age or mobility, to have an inclusive experience, Codd said.

"The instruments just allow for people to freely play in any pattern or order they like," she said. "Because of that, they have just been wildly popular."

The Parks and Recreation Department hasn't decided on a company yet, but officials plan to reach out to several, Edmonston said.

Bayyari's donation will cover the installation and equipment for the musical playground. He will consult with park staff as the project moves along.

"Really, it's up to them how they lay it out and how they do it," Bayyari said. "They're just being kind enough to get me involved in it. I certainly appreciate that."

NW News on 07/18/2016

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