In a country with a history of plowing under meadows and prairies to create cultivated fields and housing developments, the Urbana Park District (UPD) decided to recreate a 60-acre native tallgrass prairie for visitors to enjoy. Two miles of soft, dirt trails encourage passive recreation amidst the prairie grasses and flowers. Visitors can walk from the farmstead to the 22-acre Wandell Sculpture Garden, nestled amongst the tallgrass prairie, via the Hickman Wildflower Walk.

Meadowbrook Park was established in 1967 when the Urbana Park District (UPD) purchased the McCullough farmstead which had been used for agricultural purposes for the past 150 years. To complete the 130 acres, additional plots of land were acquired through grants and land exchanges with the Urbana School District. Before the park's development, the land was leased out as cultivated fields while the farmstead area was used for gardening programs and special events.

The turning point for Meadowbrook Park occurred in 1990 when a new master plan was prepared by Land Design Collaborative of Evanston, Illinois. The master plan was adopted by the 15-member, volunteer UPD Advisory Committee. Landscape Architect, Tim Bartlett, ASLA, served as the project manager for the construction of Meadowbrook park.

To coordinate funding for the extensive project, Bartlett and other UPD staff wrote and obtained grants from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Department of Transportation. Other fundraising efforts for the playground structure were coordinated by local residents. For example, the paving stones around the park structure were customized by local residents and their children. By selling the bricks, a local group of mothers raised more than $23,000 that was used to build the park structure.

As is common with community based projects, the playground portion of the park was spearheaded by a local group of mothers who wanted to provide a safe play environment for kids of all ages. The Landscape Architecture firm of Leather's and Associates, based in Ithaca, New York, was commissioned to design the playground structure.

One might say that Leathers has a grassroots approach to building a play environment. The firm realizes that a playground symbolizes much more to a community than just a place for kids to play. To gauge the desires and expectations of the potential park users, Leathers spends time interviewing parents and school-age kids to find out what things they want to see in a playground. Even the name of the playground, PrairiePlay, was chosen through a naming contest conducted in the local schools. On the same day that the interview phase was completed, Leathers incorporated the suggestions and ideas into a schematic drawing that was unveiled at a town meeting.

In keeping with the history of the McCullough farmstead, the playground's agricultural theme was reflected through a barn facade, corn cribs and vegetable gardens. Upon entrance into the PrairiePlay playground, kids are greeted by a friendly scarecrow that stands at attention in a garden of vegetables and corn.

Project manager and designer Barry Segal of Leathers and Associates described the firm's philosophy in playground design. "This is not just about kids playing in a playground, it is getting the whole community involved and reconnecting people to their roots," Segal explained. "The park embodies a patina of love, built with the personality of the community in it."

The interconnected design of PrairiePlay allows the kids to move freely and continuously throughout the play environment. The imagination is free to roam because kids don't have to say "now I am playing on the slide and next I go over and climb on the cargo net."

In the center of the play structure the kids enter into a barn-like structure that draws them into a world of play. "When kids walk in, there is a sense of being surrounded and connected with the space that they are in," Segal noted. "They become personally wrapped up in the play environment."

The playground is designed to grow with the kids through different challenges ranging from easy to more physically demanding. When a child is at any one location there could be four different challenges to chose from: overhead ladder (upperbody), balance beam, cargo climber, or stairs. A reward awaits the child after successful completion of the task.

In addition to PrairiePlay's traditional play equipment, Leathers also incorporated a section dedicated to imaginative play. A character wall entices kids to stick their heads through holes in order to put their faces on the drawing of a cow or other barnyard animals.

Over 60 acres of Meadowbrook Park consist of recreated native Illinois tallgrass prairie, making it the largest native tallgrass prairie within an urban public park system in the U.S.. To encouraage passive recreational use of the tallgrass prairie, two miles of soft, dirt trails meander along stream corridors and prairie areas. To view art in a natural setting, park visitors can walk through the 22-acre Wandell Prairie Sculpture Garden lacated adjacent to the PrairiePlay playground.

When the master plan was first drawn in 1990, the planners had specified an agricultural exhibition of farm equipment. But, the liability proved too much and the idea for a contemporary sculpture garden arose. To ensure that the sculptures work well in the natural environment, the parks district consciously specified abstract art. "We wanted to create some excitement about the sculptures," Bartlett explained. "The abstract nature of the pieces opens them up for discussion and interpretation."

One such piece is "Marker," sculpted by local artist Peter Fagan. The sculpture of a nude woman was positioned with her back to the path so that she gazes intently across the sea of prairie grass. Because of the desire one has to "meet" the nude face to face, the sculpture rests on a lawn and looks at the prairie instead of being in the prairie. To avoid placing approachable sculptures directly next to the pathway, a mowed area surrounding the piece invites viewers to take a closer look. The tall prairie grass can also be used to surround a sculpture, thus creating a natural buffer zone to prohibit people from approaching.

The nine sculptures in the Wandell Sculpture Garden are actually on display in a natural art gallery. To obtain signature pieces without purchasing them, Department Director Robin Hall along with two representatives from the Illinois Arts Council went to the annual sculpture show at Navy Pier in Chicago. They evaluated the sculptures that didn't sell or weren't for sale and then offered the sculptors a modest stipend to come to Urbana to site their piece. Trucking costs were significantly minimized because 3-4 pieces could fit on one flatbed at a time and all the art originated from the Navy Pier.

By commissioning the sculptures, the UPD's innovative strategy developed a win-win situation for everyone involved. First of all, tax payer money was not used to acquire the sculptures. The honorarium money given to each sculptor, about $2,000, was funded by a small grant from the Illinois Arts Council. Since the Meadowbrook Park is acting as a gallery, if any sculpture on display is sold, then the Parks District would receive a commission. No sculpture has yet to be purchased from the outdoor gallery, but local residents are campaigning to purchase "Tango" by Larry Young as a permanent piece to the park.

There is nothing static about the sculpture garden. In addition to providing an artistic park for people to enjoy, there will always be something new for park visitors to experience. Through the nature of commissioning artistic works, pieces will be sold, new sculptures will be acquired, and others will be replaced after a few years. When a new work of art is acquired by the park, there will undoubtedly be much fanfare and excitement surrounding its arrival. Not only will this create a great publicity opportunity for the UPD, the new addition to the park will encourage repeat visitation from locals.

What started as a local project in Urbana, Illinois has blossomed into a regional park attracting people from all over the state. Miles of meandering trails guide visitors on a tour of the diversities of Meadowbrook park. Wildflower gardens, an enticing playstructure for kids, sculpture garden and native tallgrass prairie are only the beginning of a day filled adventure of deep-rooted fun. lasn