The entryway for The John Mark Stallings Special Needs Accessible Playground of Morgan County is nearing completion. The construction crews, all volunteer or City Parks and Recreation employees, are close to hoisting the cupola onto the top of the entry way, SNAP Coordinator Bob Francis said.

“These people are so talented here. They can do anything,” Francis said of the construction crews. “Everyone that has worked on it has really taken ownership.”

The cupola will have two back lit clock faces with auto time resets and a weathervane on top. The front of the building will have a 48-inch backlit LED SNAP logo sign, and there will be a Memorial Plaque under the archway, said Byron Faulkner, Assistant Director of Hartselle Parks and Recreation.

The SNAP playground is a multiuse playground for children of all abilities, located in Hartselle behind the Sparkman Civic Center. The main entrance of the playground will serve as a center for donor recognition, as well as, display the memorial plaque which is dedicated in memory of John Mark Stallings. The entryway portion is the first part of the last phase of the project, the second increment being the completion of the playground area.

The potential 2013 playground increment would be a “Spin, Sway and Spring” area, Francis said.

The SNAP project was introduced to the public in 2006. Already, there is a swing area, completed in 2008, with wheelchair accessible swings, and a splash pad area completed in 2010, which is open from Memorial Day to Labor Day each year. An accessible pavilion was completed in June 2011. There is no fee for use of the playground or splash pad.

The entryway will be complete months before the opening on Memorial Day 2013, Francis said.

Major in-kind contributors to the construction of the SNAP pavilion and main entrance include Jason Self of SEC Construction, David Wood of Genesis Construction, Craig Terry of Craig Terry Construction, Bryon Faulkner and Staff at Hartselle Parks and Recreation, Hartselle Utilities, and Morgan County Commission District 2, he said.

“It’s all worth it on a warm day when you come out here and see all those kids having a ball on it,” Faulkner said.

The completed facility will incorporate “12 types of play for balanced child development” including, auditory/sound, balancing, brachiating, chinning, climbing, gathering/social, imaginative, manipulative, rocking, sliding, spinning and swinging.

The third phase will cost an estimated $263,515 bringing the approximate total of the completed facility to a $800,000 value for Hartselle City and surrounding areas to use, Francis said.

To be a part of phase three of SNAP contact Sparkman Civic Center at (256) 773-2581. Send donations to SNAP, P.O. Box 512, Hartselle, Ala., 35640. Find out more about the playground at www.snapplayground.org.