Hancock celebrates new playground

A Copper Country school held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday in honor of a new playground that was assembled this past weekend.

Barkell Elementary School in Hancock introduced their students to the new setup, which is equipped with a brand new slide and jungle gym pyramid.  Teachers, parents and volunteers came together over the weekend to assemble the playground.  Barkell PTO President Tara Packard says the support they received on the project was overwhelming.

“We did end up getting a lot of volunteers from parents but also community members came out and pastors. The principal that used to be at the school.  He was out on Saturday. So there was a lot of people from the community that came,” said Packard.

Parents watched as kids had their first opportunity to test out their new stomping grounds.

“This is huge compared to what we had before and the kids are really excited to get out here on it and this is the first chance they had,” Packard said.

In addition to the support of local businesses and community members, Packard added that a $15,000 grant from the Kaboom company and the Dr. Pepper Snapple group was a big help in building the playground.