Grimston Park's playground will have something a little bit old and a little bit new when it reopens in July.

Claude LeDoux, the city's manager of horticulture, said the renovated playground is set to open the first week of July.

"The program is on track," he said. "It will be done and open. The plan is the first of July."

Residents can celebrate the grand reopening of the playground at the Summerfest in Grimston Park event that's taking place on Saturday, July 17. The event will include children's crafts, live music, community displays and more.

"It's going to be really exciting," LeDoux said of the playground. "It's going to be a real adventure. There's a lot of play opportunities from top to bottom."

LeDoux predicts that kids will have a blast at the new playground, which was planned after getting community input.

"It's a completely new concept for us. The important thing is we are reusing existing materials on site," he said. "It saves money. We want to be recycling what we have, if we can use it."

Tires that were part of the former playground are being reused in a new way, as are some of the wooded posts that made up the previous park structure.

The existing wading pool will be repainted and will contribute to a new feature in the park - a meandering stream. Some infrastructure work has been taking place beneath the ground to prepare for the stream.

"When you drain the wading pool, the water will rush down to a little play stream," LeDoux said.

LeDoux said some of the neighbours have been dropping by the site and are excited about the playground.

He said the city doesn't have an exact date for the playground completion because surfaces and painting have to be done during dry weather.

"There are parts of this that are weather-dependent," he said. "That area drains really well, which has helped us."

West End resident Emma Scott is one of those parents who is anxiously awaiting the reopening of the playground.

"I went to both of the community input meetings. I put in my two cents," she said. "I loved their ideas. I loved being included - I thought it was fantastic."

While a lot of work has been taking place on the playground in recent weeks, Scott was concerned that little work seemed to be happening during the mild spring weather.

When she called the parks department in May, she was told that the playground wouldn't be finished by the end of June, but no date had been set for the project's completion.

"In the last week they have all this equipment up. It really looks awesome," she said. "I am super excited."

The city's website states that the expected completion date of the project is spring 2010.