Gary New Duluth recreation center nears $200,000 goal for playground

A $25,000 gap stands between Gary New Duluth families and a new playground that would add another daily-use destination beside Stowe Elementary School and the neighborhood’s growing recreation complex.

As of May 1, the Gary New Duluth Recreation Center said it had raised $175,000 toward a $200,000 playground goal through grants, donations and fundraisers. The planned playground is intended for children from pre-kindergarten through age 12, giving the project a wider reach than a small neighborhood play structure and making it part of the area’s larger recreation identity.

The payoff would be practical as well as visible. Gary-New Duluth Park already sits adjacent to Stowe Elementary School and includes two soccer fields, a skate park, a multi-use sport court, a community center and an outdoor open-air pavilion and gazebo. The city lists the park at 801 101st Avenue West, placing the new playground in the middle of an established hub for after-school time, summer activity and weekend use.

Mark Boben of the GND Development Alliance said the effort has been built over 13 years and carried by volunteers, underscoring how long the neighborhood has been working to turn a plan into a real asset. That history matters in Gary New Duluth, where the recreation center has grown step by step rather than arriving as a single city-backed project.

The playground campaign also fits into a broader pattern of investment around the site. Fox 21 News reported in 2016 that phase one of the Gary New Duluth Recreation Center was getting underway and that future expenses would still require fundraising. Another 2016 report said the Gary-New Duluth Recreation Development Alliance was then working on an open-air pavilion, a walking path and soccer fields, pieces that helped build out the recreation area now anchored by the park and community center.

More recently, the city included the Gary New Duluth Recreation Area skate park among phase-one projects in its Athletic Venues Reinvestment Initiative, signaling that the neighborhood complex remains on Duluth’s recreation map. If the last $25,000 comes together, the playground would be the next tangible step in a long volunteer-led buildout, giving Stowe-area families a dedicated place for children to play in a park that has already become one of Gary New Duluth’s main gathering spots.