The project to replace the playground at Silver Beach County Park in St. Joseph has received an award from the Great Lakes Park Training Institute, a recreational organization that serves states around the Great Lakes.
Berrien County Parks Director Jill Adams tells us her staff was on hand this week for the institute’s annual conference in Indiana, where they received the Great Lakes Park Facility Award.
“One of the award qualifications is a project that utilizes community input, and the Silver Beach Playground Project certainly did that,” Adams said. “Hundreds of people from around the area helped shape this project, and it truly reflects what the community’s needs and values are.”
And the new beach playground is proving to be popular as Adams says data has shown the average length of stay for playground visitors has been 73 minutes, compared to the industry average of 45 and 50 minutes. She notes that throughout the project’s planning phase, workshops, listening sessions, and input from families, teachers, and accessibility advocates shaped a playground design. She’s glad to see the positive results.
“Being recognized by the Great Lakes Park Training Institute, which is a regional organization, is exciting. That means that the exciting projects going on around the region are being shared with each other, and this gives us an opportunity to meet each other and learn from each other.”
Adams says with another summer soon to start, the parks department looks forward to gathering even more data on the new playground.
The Silver Beach County Park Playground opened in May 2025, replacing equipment that was more than 30 years old. More than 150 individuals, businesses, and civic groups contributed to the more than $1.25 million playground cost.
Photo: Alex Lockwitz, Berrien County Park Maintenance, and Matt Carlson, Park Operations Manager, accept the 2026 Great Lakes Park Facility Award during a conference in Angola, Indiana.
