(WSB photo from June)

Four months after that work party – a ribbon-cutting party! Everyone is invited to Roxhill Elementary @ EC Hughes (34th/Holden) this Thursday for a celebration of what the community added to the renovation project before the school’s move – a playground and mural. Here’s the announcement:

Friends of Roxhill Elementary invites one and all to the grand opening ceremony for our Seattle Department of Neighborhoods-funded and community-built playground and a celebration of our new mural by artist Henry Luke on Thursday, October 25, at 5:30 p.m. at Roxhill at E.C. Hughes. We’ll meet by the playground behind the school. Parents and school community members are invited to continue on to curriculum night.

On June 2, more than 75 people came together to put together and install the playground equipment. Then, over the course of the summer, more than 50 volunteers installed and laid the safety surface and wood chips, and Henry painted the community-designed mural. Both projects are public amenities because of how they’re funded — that’s right, we can all play on the playground now!

To make it all happen, Friends of Roxhill engaged in a public process to select the playground vendor and held an open call for artists for the mural. The projects had to each go through the Landmarks Preservation Board, with multiple meetings required to gain approval. The whole project required the work of hundreds of community volunteers to be successful—if anyone at any time had faltered, it would not have come together in the short time it did. If you worked on the project in any way, please come help cut the ribbon and celebrate! You helped make this happen!

If you can’t make the event but would like to support Friends of Roxhill in another way, Roxhill teacher, parent, and FoRE member Shawna Patterson Lystra is running this November’s Seattle Marathon to raise money for the nonprofit. With a goal of $2,620 (like those 26.2 miles of the marathon), Ms. Lystra wants to raise money for field trips, materials and programs important for the Roxhill learning community. Check out her GoFundMe here.

Have questions about any of this? Contact friendsofroxhill@gmail.com. Thank you for your support and generosity. See you on the playground!