Palace Play

Just days after the Greencastle Park Board heard a report that deteriorating conditions at the Emerald Palace playground may result in its demise by next year, Park Department maintenance workers Mack McCammack (above, left) and Jim Bartlett were tightening some of the connections at the wooden structure in a brief repair effort Wednesday. DePauw freshman Bonner Scholar Tyler Ryan assists with the work while (below) seven-year-old Jensen Hardman, son of Amanda and Ronnie Hardman, Greencastle, tries to scale the pole to join pal Evitt DeVore, nine-year-old son of Ashley and Brian DeVore, Greencastle, on the platform above on a 72-degree afternoon.

Meanwhile, a plaque in the pavement at the entrance to the Robe-Ann Park playground documents the huge October 2001 volunteer undertaking that created the structure.